Uzumaki Naruto The Race to Kamikage
by dragonblade3200
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kashina and Namikaze Minato. When he meets the Kyuubi no Kitsune he is given a new dream of greatness… the Kamikage. Harem, super Naruto, and bloodline limits lots of them Reviews of all kind are always welcome.
1. One little change a whole new story

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF THE MULTIPLE UNIVERSES THAT I WILL HAVE HIM VISITING… THIS IS THE LAST TIME I PUT A DISCLAIMER FOR THE FIC SO BELIEVE IT (I HATE THAT SAYING)

**Ok lets get this started with an overview: Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kashina and Namikaze Minato. When he meets the Kyuubi no Kitsune he is given a new dream of greatness… the Kamikage. Harem, super Naruto, and bloodline limits (lots of them)**

**UZUMAKI NARUTO: RACE TO KAMIKAGE**

One little change… a whole new world

--

(Emo point of view)

--

Blood…

There was blood everywhere… _how could he…how?_

"ITACHI!!" came the yell, the cry of pain heard in the hearts of people all over the city.

As Uchiha Sasuke sat there on his knee's, his arms propping him up, on the outer edge of the Uchiha district… the, former, Uchiha district, he kept thinking of what he saw and what he was forced to see…

"_The brother you wanted to spend time with has done this…"_

"Nii-san… Nii-san why?"

"_To ascertain your _"_capacity_"_…"_

sob, sob, hiccup, "How could you…?"

"_I continued acting as the elder brother you desired, and became your companion to see if that potential lies hidden. You found me disagreeable and hated me…"_

"I… I never hated you… I could never have hated you… then." Came the whisper, trying to talk to the past.

"_You continued wanting to surpass me. Because of that I will let you live."_

"I didn't want to surpass you…" and then, sitting up tall and yelling to the gods and heavens that my have been, "I WANTED TO BE RECOGNIZED BY YOU! I WANTED TO HAVE YOU AS MY **BROTHER!!**"

"…_for my sake."_

Falling back to the earth he started to sob and hiccup once more, falling into sleep once more… "for your sake… to forget your guilt……" and he knew no more."

It was ten days later that he managed to return to the academy, it was ten days later that changed so many lives… for the better or worse I wonder.

In front of him he could hear Shikamaru and Choji talking about food, what candy Choji wanted. Behind him he could tell someone was talking about him… His family.

'_No I shouldn't be here, learning all these useless things. I should be out training…Why should I train… what am I trying to do… why am I even still alive?'_

Then a voice filtered into his mind like an echo,_ "if you want to kill me…hate me… curse me…cling to your pitiful life… hate…hate…hate…"_

"…are you listening Uchiha, what are you doing? Class hasn't even started yet? This is so troublesome."

"Awe, Shikamaru, stop…" said the 'big boned' Choji as he ate his chips, "Munchmunchmunch… Let him be as…munch gulp… as emo as he wants to be. Hmmm I need another bag."

Sasuke didn't know why he did what happened next. Maybe it was just how soon it was since he lost his family, maybe it was a side affect of the Mangekyo Sharingan Itachi had used on him, or maybe it was the fact that he knew he needed to be strong and to do that he would have to be the alpha male, the top dog, and make his superiority know… but really who knows.

Turning to the Akimichi, as he looked through his back pack for another bag of chips, Sasuke let out a growl, "What do you know fat ass?!" this earned an immediate glare from Choji and a nearly unheard 'troublesome idiot,' from Shikamaru, "Did you're your whole worthless clan get butchered like the pigs that they are?" and he sent his left fist into the larger boys gut, "because when they are," now he brought his right around and landed a blow to the boys face, "and you are the last pig standing," as he put his arms on the boys shoulders and brought him into a knee slam, "then maybe you will understand a fraction of what I do now." As Shikamaru tried to run in and stop the boy Sasuke turned around and grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him into the adjacent wall, giving a good right to the boys gut and a left to the head straight on, slamming the pineapple haired head into the wall and the boy out cold, "I'm not being 'emo,'" as he tuned back to Choji, who was struggling to stand up, leaning on a desk, "I'm becoming the avenger that I need to be. A pig like you wouldn't understand a thing like that. I will become strong and I WILL kill brother… and anyone else who gets in my way." And with that he gave one last punch to the hefty boy, the sound of cartilage breaking under his fist.

After that he turned around and started walking to the door, the small crowed that gathered for the brawl moving out of the way for him. When he got to the door it slid open and…

--

(Pink-Haired devil's point of view)

_--_

'_Oh I can't wait to tell Ino… ooohh today's the day I let them know that I'm in love with Sasuke-kun!'_ Haruno Sakura KNEW she was in love. She was going to let Ino and the others know too. What wasn't to like about Sasuke, he had the best grades in the class, he was from a prestige's family, though they were all dead, and he was cute, **'CHA more like fucking hot!'** Yes, Sakura was in love, she would do anything for the pretty bo- I mean Uchiha boy.

As she was nearing the school she saw Ino waiting out font for her while talking to a couple of other girls. Seeing the pink haired girl she yelled over "Sakura-chan, come on over, Mahiko-chan was just telling me about her cousin Hayate who was made into a special Jounin recently."

Letting off a big smile she looked at the taller girl, "That's great, do you think you'll get him to teach you some ninja stuff?"

The taller girl, Mahiko, sighed, "I hope so, I don't know how much of this stupid little academy I can handle. If he teaches me then I'll be out of here in no time. Ino's dad won't let her out so fast but maybe your parents can teach you and get out of here with me."

Sakura blushed a little, "My father wasn't a shinobi and my mother hasn't fought for the eight years my parents have been married. I doubt she even remembers the basics from the academy?"

"Oh." Said the girl curtly before leaving, they wouldn't hear about it at all but the girl did get out of the academy early. A year after that she was captured by missing nin… a year after that she was killed when Konoha hunter nin's stormed their camp. The hunter nin's killed her out of mercy, having been beaten, tortured, raped and defiled in a thousand different ways her mind was gone, only a shell of what she was… her cousin never used the sword he used to end her life again, instead keping it as a reminder that he had failed Konoha, himself, and his family.

"Sakura," said an exasperated Ino as they walked into the classroom, "here's your next lesson, never admit that your parents are non-shinobi, even though your mother _was_ one a lifetime ago. In Konoha and other countries it will make you seem like nothing more than a civilian, even if you're a ninja.

Sakura just gave a little blush in return, "Sorry Ino-chan."

"…hhaaa, what are we going to do with you Sakura-chan. Just don't apologize next time I correct you like that, it'll ruin your self-esteem."

Nodding her head, "Yes Ino-chan, I'm sor-"

"SAKURA!" yelled Ino as she cut the other girl off. They looked at each other with for a second before they started to giggle, "Come on Sakura-chan, we have to make it to class, that new assistant teacher starts today. Hmmm, what was his name?"

"It was Iruka, Ino-chan. He just made Chuunin at the last exam too. Oh and Ino, I need to talk to you after classes today, ok?"

"Yeah gotcha, you and you smart little forehead need to talk to little'ol me."

As they neared the class they could here someone yelling and the sound of a fight,

"Sakura, you hear that?" said Ino as she ran a little farther ahead to the classroom door.

"Uh hu." Was Sakura's smart reply as she walked up behind Ino, "Sounds like someone is fighting in there."

Giving her pink haired friend a devious look Ino said to her, "Well lets go watch the slaughter fest." And with that she threw open the door and they were face to face with Uchiha Sasuke, the psycho- sorry I mean Uchiha Sasuke, the _prodigy_ himself.

'_This is your first chance to show him you care Sakura, DON'T miss this chance'_ And at the same time both her and Ino yell out to the boy, "SASUKE-KUN!" They both looked at each other with questioning eyes, before turning back to the Uchiha, only to be cut off before they can get anymore out of their mouths.

"What do you think you two are doing?" said the Uchiha, Suddenly having his anger turn on the two girls, "If you have time to be gawking at me then you _should_ be out doing something productive, like training. You _women_ need to train twice as much as any man needs to. Now MOVE! The strong have no time for weakling like you two."

When neither of them gave any sign of moving he moved in to attack them like he had Choji, only to have his arm held by a portly Chuunin with a goatee and a bandana around his head that sported his forehead plate, "Sasuke! What do you think you are doing?" he asked, seeing a knocked out Nara and a bleeding Akimichi, "What did you do here?" he asked, more than a little angry at the boys actions, and the fact that he wasn't there to stop it…_ 'Damn, this could cost me my job Uchiha.'_

"Let go of me, I'm done with this stupid little academy, I'm going to do some serious training and leave this stuff to the babies." He tried to pull away, but when the man would not give an inch he tried to attack, only to receive a quick chop to the back of his neck and nothingness after that. Sakura, Ino, and surprisingly a pale eyed girl were shocked by what he did and said, something would be happening... and soon…

--

They say that a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a sandstorm on the other side of the world… well, Sasuke didn't know it at the time, but he had just flapped his wings… and they were much bigger than any butterfly wings I have ever seen. All around Konoha things were happening …

--

(Omniscient)

--

Fifteen minutes after the incident occurred Akimichi Choza, Nara Shikaku, and Yamanaka Inoichi, all of whom were enjoying lunch when they got the news, were picking up the former two's children. The boys in question were in bad shape, Choji had a broken nose, wrapped in a strange looking cast, while Shikamaru had his head wrapped up, most of his hair having been cut off to treat the wound. Both of them suffered from wounded prides.

As the children walked a little farther ahead, not even speaking to each other, the three fathers stayed back so they could talk unheard. Though one would think the booming voice of the usually calm Choza would have carried across the whole village, "Who does that gaki think he is, attacking our children like that!" he said with clenched fists.

"Calm down Choza, we just need to think this through a little that's all." Was Inoichi's response, "The boy just had a major loss. His entire family is gone… his entire Clan."

"I don't care! Assault is assault! You know what, that boy wasn't even supposed to be back yet, the Saindaime wanted to wait a week longer to try and talk to they boy some more, but the damn elders and the counsel-" he was cut off by Shikaku.

"You mean the Counsel that _I_ am a member of?" he said nonchalantly, "It wasn't the members of the counsel… well all of us. Your father, Choza, as well as old man Yamanaka," this earned a grinning glare from the blond in the group, "and myself all agreed that the boy needed time. Heck, we even had the support of Hiashi and Morino clans were on our side. That's two of the noble clans, each with two votes, two clans which have experts in the art of the mind in them, each of which got a vote, and the Nara, bringing the vote up to seven for us, but we were simply overruled."

"Gekko, Inuzuka, Mitarashi, Shiranui, Yuhi, and, for some reason, the Aburame were all against us. With that they tied us up, the Aburame getting two votes from being a Noble clan… a creepy clan, yes, but noble none-the-less, and all the others getting a vote. So it came down to the Elders and the Hokage. The Hokage put in his three votes for us, but the elders put the four votes they get between the two of them against us."

"Wait, wait, wait!" said Inoichi as they walked towards the Akimichi homes, "Your saying all the others clans didn't listen to two clans which specialize in the ways of the mind? And what's with the Yuhi, they are a bunch of brainy Genjutsu users, they know almost as much about the mind as the Morino, how could they mis dyignose the boy. Shouldn't they have-"

"They didn't though," said Shikaka, interrupting his blond friend, "an that's all that matters in the end. Perhaps the clan head went against the rest of their wishes, maybe they were bribed, in the end it doesn't matter… It's the Aburame that have me worried… their usually smarter and more level headed than that, nothing ever moves them away from the path of logic."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." Said a calmer Choza, "Like what they said about the… their position after the Kyuubi attack, and with dealing with the Kumo incident. If anything I would have thought the Hyuga would want the boy back in the school, not the Aburame."

"Please, the Hyuga just wanted to keep the boy away from training as long as possible. Their afraid of him, just like they were afraid of every other Uchiha. The whole Itachi thing has them on edge… Sasuke _is_ Itachi's brother after all, so Sasuke will clearly have pleanty of potential. AHH! its all too troublesome!" was how Shikaku ended.

Hearing this Inoichi decided to change the subject, "So what are you guys going to do about your boys now. That Uchiha did a number on them… you think they'll be ok?"

Choza clenched his fist at this, and though it was slight one could see Shikaku's eyes narrow, "Well," started the Akimichi, "I think its time my boy started to take his training a little more seriously. The Uchiha, by all accounts wasn't even using Taijutsu, he was brawling like some civilian. I know the academy hasn't gotten to teach them much yet, but they should have been able to stop some kid if they had kept their heads. Yeah… Choji and I are going to start working on chakra control, working out, and his chakra levels. Maybe if he gets good enough in the next year I'll start to teach him clan jutsu's and fighting styles."

"As troublesome as it is… Choza's right. My boy has a good mind, just like ever other Nara male, its time we started to bring it forward so he can use it. I was planning to wait till the year he graduates to start teaching shadow techniques… but maybe I should start sooner than later."

They walked a little while longer in silence, entering the Akimichi household, until Shikaku turned to Inoichi, "I know it may be a bit soon for her, but maybe you should start to teach Ino while she's at home as well. I mean, once you can understand those damn textbooks you read for fun, then chakra and other shinobi basics are like reading a bedtime story."

Inoichi stared at the man a second, thinking, "Yeah… maybe. Being a shinobi isn't going to be easy for her even if she is the top kunoichi in her class. See you guys tomorrow, my mission starts at about four tomorrow so maybe I'll come over and see what you guys plan on doing with your two _brats_."

"Yeah, yeah, our brats will be able to pass on the clan names at least," was Choza's reply as he grinned at the blond man.

Inoichi passed on a smile as well, "That is unless she refuses to let Shikamaru keep his last name. I mean have you ever seen the two of them, bickering like an old married couple already."

"I know," Shikaku groaned in reply, "it reminds me of when Yoshino and I met, and she was at least a year behind me. My boy will have to deal with her even _during_ the academy."

"Yeah… can't wait for that wedding." He said as he stood up and walked for the door, "at least _her_ father won't have to keep a kunai to the boys back, she'll have that covered by herself." Chuckling he left.

Later that night Choza asked is son what size he was, ready to get him a set of Akimichi armor, Shikaku told his son that they would be playing some sort of strategy game every night, shougi, Go, whatever. And lastly Ino was introduced, much to her horror, to her new familial partners: Psychology and Sociology… all one thousand, seven hundred, and forty three pages of them.

--

That day, after the academy let out

--

"Ino-chan! Over here!" yelled Sakura, not as sure of herself as she was during the morning. _"Oh I love him, I know I do, but… would he ever want to be with someone as weak as me?"_

"Hey Sakura?" said Ino as she walked towards the bench where they always met after classes.

"Yeah Ino?" she responded as she stopped asking herself such questions.

"You like Sasuke, don't you?" the pink haired kunoichi in training went wide eyed as Ino asked her that, "Don't even try to deny it," she cut in, seeing the girl try to protest, "its written all over your face now."

Looking at the smirking Ino, Sakura lowered her gaze to a puddle next to the bench, "How did you figure it out?" she asked simply.

"It was from this morning, you said you wanted to talk to me about something, then when you saw Sasuke there was how you acted… how _we_ acted, you've never done that before."

"So," she said, looking up as something clicked in her head, "does that mean you like him too?" a slight blush in her face, as she hoped it wasn't true.

"Well yeah! I think every girl in our class does… well everyone except Hinata, but she seems to like a boy in one of the older classes. But after what he said today…"

"Yeah," said Sakura sadly, "He doesn't want to waste his time with weak people, but… but everyone's weak to him, I know it!"

"So?" asked Ino, getting a confused look from Sakura, "We just need to become as strong as he is."

The pink haired girl nodded her head, thinking, when a blush suddenly came over her face, "Ummm, Ino? There might be one… little problem there." The Yamanaka looked at her friend confused, wondering what problem there could be, "Well there are two of us and…"

"And… what?" asked the girl not understanding.

"Well there are two of us, but… only one Sasuke." As Sakura's meaning became clear the girl blushed something fierce.

"Oh! That!" was the intelligent response.

"I mean, we would need to get strong enough to even have him notice us… but one day I want to fall in love and get married just like my mother did. You can't do that if the person your in love with doesn't love only you."

Looking kinda sheepish Ino rubbed the back of her neck, "Yeah… I guess so… but… but we still need to get strong anyway, so we can worry about that later, right?"

Sakura gave a big smile, "Yeah! Listen lets make a promise! Lets promise that we will both get strong before we try and get Sasuke's love!"

Ino's smile could rival another certain blonds, "Yeah! Hey, you said your mom used to be a shinobi before, right?"

Sakura's smile fell a little, "Well once upon a time anyway… why?" she asked.

"Well according to daddy once a person becomes a shinobi they never forget, its like, their minds take stuff in and we remember through there, but our bodies never forget something once we've mastered it. He said that even in the course of the academy we will learn to call up chakra and fight that even after we graduate we could go years without using the stuff and still be able to use it to some extent. I don't know all the details, but that's what he told me, he said that's the kind of stuff I'll have to know to learn the family jutsu."

Sakura was in awe, sure Ino was the _strongest_ kunoichi in the class, but she had never heard something so…. Intelligent! out of her friend. "Oh! Well then… why don't… why don't we ask her if she can help us with anything."

"Great!" yelled Ino as she took Sakura by the hand and started to drag the girl towards her own home, "Say Sakura? What rank was your mother? I mean I know she wasn't from a clan or anything, but there are plenty of first generation ninja with high ranks… so, what rank was she?"

Sakura let out a little blush, "Oh! Well… I don't really know the ranks yet, they haven't taught us yet and my mom didn't teach me any shinobi stuff yet…" seeing Ino's face twist in annoyance she told her the one thing she did know, "But I can tell you one thing! I found an old cloth in the back of a closet in my house last week, it was blue and had the symbol for Fire on the front inside a circle. When she found me I asked her and she said she was a guard once, one of twelve, and that it was something really rare!"

"Really rare?" asked Ino, not fully convinced, "Well maybe we can ask her when we get there." And with that they took off to the Haruno home twice as fast as before.

When they arrived they saw the older pink haired woman chasing away a blond kid who had bent over to smell her flowers with a broom, "Get out of here! You leave my flowers alone brat! They didn't do anything to you!" And the kid fled out of fear for the cleaning device, dropping a pair of goggles which the pink haired women threw after the boy. Turning back to sweep the path to her home Sakura's mother, Ume, saw the two girls run up too her. "Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, my dears, what are you doing here? I thought you would be out playing."

"Hello mother!" greeted Sakura, bowing slightly to her mother

"Hello Haruno-sama!" bowing as well.

"Oh stop that Ino! Sama my rear end! I'm no great Lady, you know you may just call me by my first name dear. Ume is what my mother called me when I was born and that's good enough for me!" answered Ume, a genuine smile on her face.

"Hai Ume-san! Well we were just wondering if you could help us train a bit?" asked an eager Ino.

"Really! Well then, I guess there is a trick or two I might have." Was her response as she put on a thinking look. Though on the inside she was excited, _"FINALLY! I've waited for my daughter to start taking kunoichi training seriously and Ino you are the answer! Maybe I should teach her a little of my style too… hmmm? I need to brush up a bit till we get too far, but still!"_ "I could show you a thing or two… Tell me girls, what are the major fields of combat?"

"Well there is Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu." Answered Ino, knowing at least that much of the basics.

Sakura was next, "Well we learn about Senjutsu, but that's not so much fighting as it is planning out your fights in advanced, knowing your enemy, stuff like that."

"Good! But you missed one, something that I happen to be very good at: KENjutsu! The art of sword fighting!" as she said his she took her broom into a basic stance and went through one of the katta's for some style… both the girls looked at the women weilding her broom around like she was crazy.

"Ummm, mom, I think we get the point… you can stop any moment now"

"Ume-san? Are you ok there… Heeelllloooo?!"

After finally getting the women's attention she led them to her bedroom and pulled out a long box, "This is a box of mementos from when I was a kunoichi." She said as she lifted off the lid, revealing a blue silk cloth on top, the symbol for Fire in a red circle near a corner, "This I got after I became a Jounin. I was offered the position to become one of the Twelve Guards of the Fire Lord." At this she had Ino and Sakura in awe, amazed that such a simple women had once been in such a position, "The Daimyo himself came to me after he saw me in the Jounin exams, saying it was the only kunoichi fight he had ever seen, that my beautiful pink hair drew his attention. He was so handsome!"

Seeing her mother go into lala land Sakura was worried. Luckily Ino did the only logical thing a seven year old girl could do… she slapped the women.

Looking around confused, "Right! Thank you Ino! As I was saying I was a personal guard to the Daimyo himself, working beside people like the Hokage's son, a great Shinobi monk named Chiriku, and lets not forget the amazing Isshin. My personal mentor on the Guard. He taught me so much, even about some techniqes my great great great grandfather had possesed if stories are true. Anyway he was good, but me… I became the best. I fought Momochi Zabuza, a fish guy named Kisami, both of which were a part of the Seven swords men of the Mist, a whole bunch of people oh and then there was…"

Slowly but surly Sakura and Ino's eye glazed over and they started to fall asleep, even academy teachers weren't this boring. Not that the stuff wasn't interesting, but she just pushed on and on. Finally, after an hour of talking the woman put the cloth to the side and pulled out something else, a Konoha headband, then after that a long object covered in fine silk the color of peaches, perhaps a shade of pink, who knew, the color seemed to change as it moved.

"And this" she said, while revealing a sword hilt and pushing it up to reveal an inch of blade, "Was my constant companion through it all! My mother, though distraught by my choice to be a kunoichi, decided that if I would do something made for a man, then I would have a mans weapon, and she couldn't have picked a better blade. When I got her she looked like a piece of junk, I couldn't even get it out o the sheath to see the blade, but a quick cleaning and an unsealing let me fix that and revealed a blade of amazing quality. My mother paid a homeless man a few ryo for the blade he had, and yet I have _never_ needed to sharpen it. Blood, sap, mud, and this one tree, none of it ever stuck to the blade. If it had the original sheath I bet it would have been just as amazing as the sword." Reluctantly she covered the sword back up and placed it back in the box, "I will be teaching you girls the basics of the Sakura style of Kenjutsu, a style said to have originated with one of the Sword Gods, aids to the Shinigami himself. You know Isshin claimed they are the Shinigami, that they were a group of warriors who helped move soul on."

She stopped here hearing the snort from Ino, "Well then, it seems the history lesson is over." Slowly she packed up the boxes contents and she stood up, and walked into the closet with the box. When she came out she had long nine pronged whip in her hands, "Now its time for your physical conditioning!"

She grinned, they ran, and screams were heard

--

Outside the Haruno home

--

The young Hinata Hyuga watched as a pink haired banshee chased off that blond haired boy. Who was he? All she had was a name, Naruto-Maelstrom. Why did he train as much as he did? He was, after all, only as old as she and the others in her class.

Yet he was two grades above her. She didn't understand, and didn't try too, she just watched the boy go with sad eyes, as the memory of the Uchiha's speech came to mind. _'If he's two grades above me, then he must be even stronger than Sasuke… So I'll have to be stronger still!'_ "I will be strong Naruto… my Naruto-kun.

That night she trained with her father and did not stop when he said she could if she wished, for that he was very pleased, even Neji usually stopped more often than not at that point. When her father made small talk at dinner with his brother and her she did not stutter once, though inside she was ready to die from fear of the older two men. Through this she held one thought in her mind _'For Naruto-kun!'_

--

Six months later. During Kumo's negotiations with Konoha.

--

A soft tapping of feet could be heard against the hard wood floors in the Hyuga Manor. Hinata Hyuga would never have heard them this late at night, save for the fact that she had not fallen to sleep yet, having cried for the first time in months. Naruto Uzumaki, had been beaten badly today and she had watched as he had crawled back to his home after being denied the hospital. The part that stung the worst was the ANBU. They had been there, they had stopped the villagers, and had helped the boy up, but refused to do anymore than that, even telling him that the hospital would not take him in.

It stung, and it stung that she did nothing to help him. _'I WILL NOT BE WEAK! I promised myself that, but her I am, crying, and there I was, with all the power in the world to help him and I did nothing but stand still and watch him.'_ She cried hard and now just lay awake in her bed, berating herself.

Then she heard the feet and soon saw the shadow outside her thin paper door. Quickly, without seal or word she activated her Byakugan, one thing she made sure she could do, though few could. She saw everything, every movement, every object, and every speck of chakra for twenty-five feet, even the bodies of the two branch members outside her room at either end of the hall.

That had pulled her attention long enough for the man, with his Kumo head protector to open the door, she made no sound as she was gagged and swept up over his shoulder, seeing no reason to tie her hands of feet. That was a mistake.

For a minute she was in shock over what was happening, then, with her Byakugan still open, she stuck once on his back. The man collapsed and she was sent sprawling, making enough noise to waken her other guardian in another room. Hizashi came out to the sight of Hinata standing over a dead Kumo nin, the one heading over talks with Konoha.

"Lord Hyuga's mercy! What is this madness?" In three minutes the compound was abuzz and every Hyuga with the famed all seeing eyes had it active. As for Hinata… oh yes, this night set her path. This Hyuga would be strong. She was the first Hyuga to take a life while still in the academy…

--

People will grow strong if they have enough motivation… or they shall try at the very least. Kiba Inuzuka though wasn't even given the chance to try. Three weeks after the incident with the Uchiha gaki Kiba took a look around the classroom.

Ino and Sakura now had wooden swords on their backs. Hinata seemed to be advancing in leaps and bounds, quickly taking place as the number one kunoichi. Choji now wore a set of purple and red armor with the kanji for eat on the front. For once Shaky Shikamaru was paying attention, even asking questions of the teacher and contributing to the class! Heck, even Shino carried a weapon around now, a pair of scythes that seemed to make him look like a grasshopper when he took a stance.

The only ones who hadn't changed were himself and Sasuke Uchiha, though that boy was already surpassing the rest easily. Kiba felt like he had to do something, so he vowed to go to his sister and mother today and start the family training. But it was not to be.

"No son, you're not ready to start that training yet." Were the first words out of the Inuzuka matriarch's mouth after hearing her son's request.

Kiba was angry at her, though he could not see _why _she had chosen things to be this way, "But you started Hana when she was my age, why can't you be reasonable? I deserve-"

"You deserve nothing!" she hissed between clenched teeth, a small trickle of killing intent leaking out, "I swear to Cerberus you are the most stubborn child I have ever met. Listen well, you will not start training because you are not in your last year of the academy. Eight years ago Hana was rushed into being a Genin because of the Kyuubi's attack on our village. It is because of that, not HER that the training started early. Secondly, you have yet to bond with a pup, your chakra is not matured enough for that, even Hana had to wait until she was ten for that to happen. I do not want to hear anymore of deserving what you clearly do not!" and with that she left the trembling Kiba all alone.

Hurt, angry, sad, envious, scared, and most of all ashamed of himself, he had very good reson's to be trembling. Kiba would fall to the last place in their class, till a certain blond kid entered in the last year. That year Kiba started training, yet his grades never raised and his rank stayed second last. Akamaru bonded to him when he had turned nine, and was strong enough to join him in classes, yet he never seemed to grow, and his mother never let him push past what he was ready for. To him he was being held back, but he could not fight it.

Who would have though one little fight would leave Kiba Inuzuka in the dust of his peers.

--

ENTER THE UZUMAKI-

--

Naruto wasn't happy. No, Uzumaki Naruto was having the worst day of his life.

Why? You may ask.

Well today is Naruto's eleventh birthday, the day he, unknown to either him or those of his generation, had the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside of him. Yes, eleven years ago on this very October day Naruto was made the Jailer and Warder of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the most powerful demon to ever walk the realms of earth.

Normally on this day Naruto knew enough to stay away from the town and even his own home, out of fear of being beaten and chased by the village folk and shinobi alike, though he knew not why they chased him, beat him, called him a demon, and, worst of all in Naruto's mind, spread evil lies to their children and the rest of his generation, leaving the poor boy friendless in the cold world of the shinobi.

But today Naruto couldn't help but come out of the shadows, for he heard a rumor of an ambassador being escorted to the Hokage's tower today, a man from the Whirlpool Country, a place he had never heard of, since it's shinobi village was so small and secretive. But these aren't what made him come out to see the old man, it was his name: Uzumaki.

It couldn't be, he had no family… right? But he had to know, one way or another. So, dressed in all orange, as it was his favorite color… and that they would sell him nothing else but the ugly bright orange outfit, he left that morning to wait for the Diplomat to arrive. People who passed him by saw nothing, as he had finally gotten the hang of the Henge and made himself blend into the wall he sat by.

One hour, he was patient, two, he was bored, three hours he was ready to tear hair out. After four hours Naruto was ready to leave when he saw them, a group of ten ANBU Black Ops all in dark cloaks surrounding one man: Uzumaki Kinto, a tall man, with golden red hair and beard, eyes as green as emeralds. The only problem was, he had let the henge drop, and on this day, this close to a foreign diplomat, that spelt certain disaster. The first to see him was not the Villagers, or the ten ANBU, all save one of which, a certain Hatake Kakashi, would gladly see him dead, no, it was in fact the one Naruto came to see.

For a split second the two seemed to look each other straight in the eyes, Deep blue of youth and the Hard green of time. In that second they questioned themselves. From Naruto it was questions he had asked himself from the days he lived in the Konoha orphanage: "_Do I have a family somewhere? Is this person related to me somehow? Should I bother getting my hopes up again?_" From the man it was about something he had thought he would never see again: "_Those eyes, are they? No!… Are those his eyes? It means nothing, if they are but… my Shina-chan._" Then their eyes drifted, Naruto's towards the symbol on the mans chest, that of the Whirlpool, and the mans towards the patch on Naruto's shoulder, a Whirlpool in a flame.

Before either of them could say, do, or think anything else the ANBU had moved into action, six jumping around the man while the other four charged towards Naruto.

"Stay away from the Ambassador you little demon Child" yelled one of the masked men, as he unsheathed his sword. Seeing this Naruto jumped into action himself, throwing down a smoke bomb and making a run for it.

"Who was that boy?" asked Kinto, nearly afraid to ask.

Luckily for our hero Kakashi answered, "The child's name is Naruto, he is an orphan who attends the Ninja academy here. Why do you ask Lord Kinto?"

"Hmm… go find him and bring me his jacket. Leave the boy alive though, he does not seem the most liked here."

"HAI!" And Kakashi jumped away, glad that he had been the one sent, knowing the others in the group may have been a little more… fatal in carrying out these orders.

--With Naruto--

"DAMN IT!" Naruto was not having a good day, "Stupid rope!"

"KILL THE DEMON!" "LYNCH'EM" "FINISH WHAT THE FOURTH STARTED!"

No Naruto was having the worst day of his life. Why? You may ask.

"I had to be a _fucking_ retard and run into the middle of the GOD DAMN FUCKING FESTIVILE!!"

Yes it was true, normally Uzumaki Naruto was better than his, the could keep his head and managed to outrun ANBU on a few occasions. Naruto, though he was the dead last in the academy right now, was not stupid nor untalented, he had managed to memorize every path and passage through Konoha, otherwise known as The Village Hidden in the Leaves, he could already do the henge, replacement, and Bushin jutsu's (though the last had taken him all summer to get the hang of), he was great at hiding, tracking, and his taijutsu were above that of most of his fellow Academy students.

Right now though, that didn't matter, because now he had been caught, tied to a wooden pole and was being carried to a tree meant to hang traitors and enemy shinobi from. "Hey, come on! I'll buy you all ramen if you let me go!!"

"Shut it demon child, we don't want anything from you!'

"COME ON! Everyone loves ramen!" Naruto, beg, pleaded, and hoped to be let go, but if the power of ramen wasn't enough then what was?

The answer to that was a lightning covered fist that shattered the pole and let Naruto fall to the ground and jet away. The Hokage himself had been prepared to intervene, watching from his crystal ball to see if anyone there had the guts to stand up for the boy. He was glad to see Kakashi stop the ignorant fools, but still saddened to know they had to be stopped in the first place.

As Naruto ran, towards the forest since his home was no doubt being ransacked and defiled, he could feel the tracking eyes of someone behind him. As soon as he stopped in a familiar clearing he bent over to get a quick breath and felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck, then knew no more.

"You should be safe here until tonight." Said Kakashi as he took off Naruto's jacket and threw his own black cloak on top of the boy.

--With the Hokage and Kinto--

"Sarutobi-Sama, I thank you for your men as escorts." Said the red haired Uzumaki.

"Of course, Konoha will do anything for its allies, and this such a small thing, how could we not. Please have a seat. Were there any problems on the way here?" asked the elderly man, already knowing the answer.

"No, no." said the man as he sat across from the Hokage in his amazingly paper free office, "Though your men mistook one boy for a threat. It is nice to know that they were protecting me but the poor lad nearly had his head removed. What was his name…. Ah yes Naruto… very intreasting eyes that one."

"Indeed! Perhapes you would like to know his full name?" he said knowingly, as a knocking came at the door, which one of the two ANBU guarding the room answered, and took something orange in his hands.

"Yes, he had a patch on his coat that was… ah here it is." He exclaimed taking the orange parcel from the ANBU and pulling out one of the sleeves to see the shoulder patch.

"Lord Uzumaki, why is Naruto's jacket here?" a little upset that he would have something stolen from the poor boy.

"Just to confirm something." Looking closly he said softly to the Hokage, "He is an Uzumaki, isn't he Sarutobi-sama? He is Kushina's son." The older man could only nod in response. Taking a breath and handing the jacket to the "professor" he went on, "So, has he awoken the Refiner? It is a very rare gift for someone of mixed blood to have."

"It is hard to tell if it has, he has… something else… that makes it difficult to tell. His stanima is beyond the human level, he is fast, and his senses are very acute."

"So he has it!" said the bearded man, a smile snaking onto his face.

"No." said the Sandaime, taking a deep breath, "He has a… tenent, I guess one could say, that does all of those things for him already."

"A tenet. What are you talking… about… yes," said the man, hearing the sounds of the party outside, "eleven years ago, the man who my neice left us for died… killing… IT... He couldn't could he? It was a demon after all."

"No, he couldn't"

"So he sealed it away… fufu."

"You find this funny?"

"Yes, in a way. You see Naruto has been exiled from his clan unless he can awaken his powers, and he has something inside him that could boost them to the levels of our forefathers."

A frown had formed across the elder mans face, "Uzumaki Naruto is not some thing for you to use. If you try anything Uzumaki-san, then you will-"

"Please, Sarutobi, I said nothing of the sort. I just found it ironic that if he could awaken his powers he would be beyond any pureblood of our family, fufu. Well I hope you shall give him his jacket back for me. But we must really start these talks on how we may repay you and the rest of Konoha. If it weren't for your men then my country might have been a dent in the earth."

"Hmm, well, there is one way. An open alliance would be more than enough to get good trade through both lands and give each of us more man power."

"Yes, maybe it is time for our hidden village to come out in the open. That is how we Uzumaki like to fight, so why not lead the village the same way."

"Kukuku, that is exactly like Naruto. He hasn't even met one of you and he acts the same way…" The great Kage wanted to say something, he couldn't let it rest, "should I tell the boy?"

With a sigh, tired of talking of things from the past, "I will tell you the same thing I told Kashina-chan, if and only if he awakens his bloodline, then we will tell him everything of his clan. One of the ANBU said he was an orphan, so I assume they and he knows nothing of that man… Minato was his name, your Yondaime?"

"No one, not even he himself, knows of any of his family and it is against the law to speak of his 'tenant' on pain of death." Then as he rubbed his head, "Though that has not made his life any easier. The older generation name no names, but they poison the youth of today against the boy."

"Well, if he wakens the Refiner then you know where to turn, there is special training he will need that only we may offer. Know this, his clan will not shun him for what he holds back."

A smile apeared on the wrinkled face of the Hokage, "Thank you, and for that I think we might be able to reduce some of the loans Konoha gave you… for privet services rendered." _"One day Naruto, I know you will have a family some day!"_

--The next morning--

"Ow, my neck!" complained Naruto, sitting up and pulling the cloack off his neck, "Who ever did that's going to pay for it in ramen… HEY, my JACKET!" standing up, protecting himself from the morning cold with the cloak Naruto made his way to the Hokage's Tower to complain.

When he got there he was greeted with the sound of paper work, "HEY OLD MAN! YOU HERE YET!" He yelled, earning a disapproving look from one of the assistants.

"Hey now, no need to yell so early." Said a tall man with a black beard, hair, and sideburns, a cigarette lit in his mouth, "You Naruto? Yeah, probable" he said not even waiting for an answer, while handing Naruto his jacket "Listen, names Asuma, I was told to get your jacket for you and to get a report on what happen yesterday from you, so why don't we go talk over some breakfast. What you want?" Give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

"**RAMEN!"**

--one walk and ten bowls later--

"Alrighty then, well I came out to see the ambassador from the Whirlpool Country, when he came one of the ANBU wearing a boar mask comes out and tries to cut my head off. So I throw down a smoke bomb and run for it. As soon as I realized he wasn't following me though I was being held down by someone and my arms and legs were tied up and I was being carried like a deer towards the hanging tree. After a few minutes someone came through and destroyed the pole I was being carried on and I'm making a run for it. When I reach the forest though, someone knocks me out, steals my jacket, and gives me this thing around my back."

Asuma, playing with his first bowl of ramen, looks at Naruto, "Unless you can give me some names the only one we got is the ANBU and he is practically immune from prosecution since he WAS on guard duty, he could simply say that he was taking an action he thought was necessary at the moment even if it was later learned to be unnecessary." Taking a long drag from his death stick he went on, "You COULD try and get him, but you need to be a Konoha Shinobi to try and bring anyone up on court-martial, and besides, that will just lead to him using that excuse and your at point zero again. Just try and not to get into those situations again, you ain't a Shinobi yet and are not afforded the benefits of being one."

"Don't worry, I have the Bushin down flat now, in eight months I'll be a ninja and anyone who messes with me is going to get their asses handed to them."

--N-A-R-U-T-O-eight months later-U-Z-U-M-A-K-I--

"NARUTO!" yelled a very pissed of Iruka, "YOU FAIL!"

"But, but, but I know I did it right, I had it down since last summer! You know that, you're the one who helped me with it!" said a nervous and upset Naruto.

"Iruka, this is the third time he took the exam, and you have seen him make a clone, right?" said a platinum haired Mizuki, "we could let him pass."

This brightened up Naruto's day a lot "Yeah, Yeah, YEAH! I was just a little nervous Iruka-sensei!"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but you both know the rules. Besides if you cant take the stress from this little test then what's going to happen when you get in a real fight."

"But Iruka-sensei-" Naruto begged once more, only to be just off.

"No Naruto, you will have to take the test next year…" then, so even Mizuki couldn't hear, "I'm sorry Naruto…"

Upset, our young hero walks out and immediately goes outside to sit on swing, watching as all of the other people, the happy families. Fathers and their son's who have just become men. Mothers and their daughters. People all so happy that their children are going off to kill and be killed, _"At least I'm not as delusional. I know what's going to happen. I already have a taste of what the worlds going to throw at them… and even my little taste would be too much to handle._"

Getting up Naruto starts to walk to the trash he calls a home, a place that has been raided over the years just for the fun of it all, destroyed and defiled for something he had no control over. Hated as a lair for evil because something he still had no idea about.

"Naruto." Came the gentle call behind him, "What do you want Mizuki Sensei?" "Come on, lets go talk some where."

Five minutes later and they were on top of a building looking at the Hokage's Tower, "You know Iruka-sensei wants you to pass, right Naruto?"

"Yeah."

"But he is a very serious person and he can't just let you through without earning it."

"I know that, but it feels like he's just picking on me. I mean he knows I can do a bushin, he saw me do one yesterday after I painted the Hokage's Monument."

"He probably see's a little of himself in you… he just wants you to work hard and earn what you get."

"I still wish I could graduate with the others!" at this a smirk crosses Mizuki's face.

"Really? I guess you just need to know the secret…" Naruto shivered, like a sixth sense was telling him something… "What is it Mizuki-sensei?"

"I knew I was right to use a Genjutsu! He just might be able to get it and take the blame too… I love sweet revenge!"

--Hokage's Tower--

Walking up to the tower Naruto still couldn't help but feel something is wrong. _"Why… why something like this… Why does this feel so wrong? Why why whywhyWHY!"_ then it struck, like a bolt of lightning, "He wants the scroll… I am such a moron… hehehe, I'm _ALSO_ the king of all pranksters… and I _LOVE_ sweet revenge!"

Twenty minutes later Naruto was in the woods with a large scroll, all thanks too his lovely new jutsu, though he still felt bad, but for a different reason, _"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! Ojiji-san is a pervert TOO!" _

Finally settling down in a clearing Naruto opens the scroll and starts to read the first one, "NO! Not another clone jutsu!" with a sigh he starts to read its description:

'_**Kage Bushin no jutsu**__- as is well known in the world of shinobi, bushin's are a golden necessity. With the most basic of cloneing techniques you may fool the simple minded into attacking a false image. When an element is added you create a solid clone, though with an added effect, a zap with contact in the Raiton: bushin, an explosion with the Katon: bushin, extra durability with the Doton: Bushin, the great speed of the Fuuton: bushin, and the flexibility of the Mizuton: bushin. The downside of these being that they can be detected quite easily if you know what to look for, tremors in the earth, sudden moisture, movement, heat, or static in the air, a well trained shinobi can sense such things, and a doujutsu can see them even faster than the well trained shinobi can sense them. It is because of such things that the Uchiha clan first tried to create a better type of clone. In the end, after they formed an alliance with the Woodland Tribes, they created this jutsu. Though it does not draw on the shadows to create a clone, which would make it a specialized elemental clone, when used properly for spying from the shadows it is truly the perfect clone. Solid clones that can perform the basic- distracting- function of clones as well as no extra elemental output, memory use _(Naruto didn't exactly understand what that meant,) _a chakra level is equal to that of the original so they are undistinguished before most doujutsu, and they have the same SKILL level as the original as well as an equal portion of the originals chakra, allowing these clones the ability to perform jutsu and retain a sort of self awareness from the point of creation. Some have dared to say that this is akin to creating life based off of an original mother, and so it very well may be, though all scientific attempts to reproduce a permanent kage Bushin have been unsuccessful at best.—also see Shuriken Kage Bushin, Kage Bushin explosion._

…thump

……

"Damn that's a lot to take in!"

Looking on farther Naruto saw that this was only the start of the technique, it went on to explain jutsu theory and, if he would have read it long enough, an explanation for 'memory use.' Naruto being Naruto though skimmed to the end where the hand signs needed and how to manipulate your chakra was listed for practicalities use.

However Naruto noticed something. The scroll was huge, there had to be hundreds of jutsu in here. Yes, he could work on this technique for the next few hours… or…

Searching through his side pouch Naruto produced a pen and a blank scroll, "Lets see, Kage Bushin no Jutsu, alright, just write that down… good. Next… Avada Ka- nope…lets see Mokuton, why would I want to make tree's… hmmm, the Rasengan, requires great control and was the jutsu of the fourth. While strong and requiring great control it was placed in this scroll not because it was evil or a danger to the user, but so it could be passed to his son one day… guess he won't get that wish, he never had a son. Guess I'll just write these three steps down… good… and… good. Next up…Balefire… DAMN! Even Kiba wouldn't have the balls to use this… good thing I have more balls than Kiba… one more should be enough, especially since they are getting harder and harder. Lets see Storm God's Summoning….. What in the name of the Kyuubi is this."

The particular jutsu in question was of epic proportions, requiring beyond perfect chakra control and reserves only a demon could hope to have, to call upon all of the elements at once to create a storm that would tear apart friend and foe and possibly a whole nation with it. But that was only part of the solution. If you found a place with the proper conditions then one could call forth a great being of immense size and power to do your bidding. It was far beyond Naruto right now, in both Chakra control and chakra amounts needed.  
Standing up and hiding his little scroll Naruto started to learn his first jutsu… you know where this is going folks!

-t-h-r-e-e-h-o-u-r-s-l-a-t-e-r—(AH where'ed that voice come from)

Naruto now sat in his bedroom, thinking about what happened a little over an hour ago.

He could hear those kunai wizzing by as Iruka was struck saving him even now. He could see Mizuki's face as he informed Naruto of his deceit this afternoon

--

"_Figured it out huh? You were smarter than you ever showed at the academy, why else would I have to use genjutsu's om your tests so you'd fail, or at the end of the year exam. You made three beautiful clones, though I guess my little trick covered up your work... oh well, clones aren't going to get you anywhere now."_

--

He could still hear Iruka's pleas to stop until he final told Naruto the truth hidden since his birth.

--

"_Traitor!" Spat Naruto, "Oh really! Am I the traitor? You know you were betrayed by the whole village, even the Hokage."_

"_He would never betray me!" yelled Naruto wit hate, wanting to leave and… and yet he couldn't move as soon as he heard those word, any form of plan forgotten._

"_Oh yes, you see there is a secret that the whole village has kept from you."_

"_STOP!"_

"_You see, eleven years ago the Fourth sealed the Nine-Tailed Demon inside a child,"_

"_MIZUKI! STOP THIS!'_

"_That child, Naruto, was you! YOU ARE THE NINE-TAILED FOX!" And then he lifted his giant shuriken over his head and charged Natuto… who started to glow red._

--

After that it was like a haze came over everything. Sure he remembered it, but it all seemed so surreal. He remembered blasting Mizuki back with a roar as the Chuunin prepared to attack Iruka and himself. He remembered calming down and creating a thousand plus clones and beating the living shit out of Mizuki-teme. And then he remembered Iruka giving him his shinobi headpiece and feeling overjoyed, and yet not caring at all.

After all how often do you hear that you have a millennium old demon sealed within your navel.

"So I have a demon inside me?" said Naruto as he lay awake on his bed.

"**Yup"**Said… actually Naruto didn't have a clue who said that.

"Who's there!" He yelled, jumping up and pulling a kunai out "Show yourself!"

"**If I could I would! As it is I want to kill half the villagers for what I've seen them do!"** said the voice…….. the Kyuubi! **"Hey! You figured it out!, and I didn't even need to yell at you."**

"Damn I must be tired if I'm talking to the little voice in my head. That sounds way to nice to be the Kyuubi."

"**Oh, ok. **_**HOW DOES THIS SOUND MUCH MORE VIOLENT FOR YOU! DO YOU WANT ME TO TELL YOU THAT I'M GOING TO RIP YOU THROAT OUT AND FEAST ON YOUR INNERDS!**_** Is that what you want to hear?"**

"No, I'm good… and pissed myself" said a shocked Naruto, who suddenly started brooding again, "What do you want, make my life even more hell than it already is? Now even if I leave the village I'll have a portable hate machine!"

"_**Damn, this kid is really down,**_**Tell you what Gaki, the only reason I came out is because we need to talk.**"

"Oh, and what do we need to talk about teme?" asked Naruto as he buried his head into a pillow.

"**First, you need to stop booding, I like happy people over sad ones, and because YOU used my chakra."**

"Wait, did you just say you like happy people? You're a demon, why would a demon like happy people."

"**It's a little off topic but they give a better crunch in every bite if you must know. But I was talking about when you used my chakra. When you did that you made it so I can finally get out a little, you know talk and help boost your powers. You know how good your senses are?"**"Yeah, so?"**"There about to get much sharper. When you used my chakra it forced your bloodline awake."**

This got Naruto sitting up straight, "Bloodline? As in a Kekkai Genkai? A Bloodline LIMIT!?"

"**Well that got you up, kukuku. Yes a bloodline know as the Refiner. Very interesting. You see I have read into your DNA some… you have another bloodline through your father as well and the potential for an under developed Doujutsu."**

"So what's it do, what's it do?!" he asked as happy as he was just a day ago.

"**Kukuku, settle down, it increases your sense, all of them, and helps your body out by giving you more strength, speed, stamina. By the end of the month you should be a few inches taller as well. Just think, with my power already coursing through your veins you will be able to pick up on the smallest sent, taste poisons before they can harm you, feel the air move as things move towards you, and will practically see with your eyes closed. Then your speed, strength, and stamina will increase to match your new senses. You'll be able to out due that pathetic Uchiha in a second. And your other bloodlines… just imagine it, you as the Greatest Hokage ever… that is, without my help. With my help I can make you greater than all KAGE's that have come before. You will rise above Hokage… you will become the Kamikage, a virtual god on earth."**

"_The Kamikage, the godshadow…But why, why help me?"_

"**Why?"**he asked, reading Naruto's mind, "**Why not, to get there you will need to unify the world, gain the respect of everyone, become more powerful than anyone… Naruto, were going to be stuck together a long time, my chakra will expand your life time to that of a hundred men, and if you die, I die. I'm just trying to expand my life here, maybe someday I can escape, who knows, but until then I want to make sure you live. To ensure that, you need to be strong… and that is were I can help. All I need from you is to let me control your chakra for a minute or two and I can take you somewhere where you can get stronger, multiple places actually."**

"_What do I have to lose, I'm weak as it is, being the Kamikage sounds much better than the plain old Hokage."_ "Alright fox you got a deal, but two things, you never try and hurt those close to me and you never force me to do something if I don't want to."

"**Alright, SO I will not harm anyone close to you, make you do anything, and help you become strong as possible. But I need something more than life, since our lives are already intertwined. If you have a chance to set me free without killing yourself, then you take it and you will actually listen to what I have to say, Deal?"**

"Deal! If you break your word then I swear your going to go down with me!" yelled the boy, hitting his head, trying to jostle the fox around,

"**Hey gaki, a few other things, one I'm in your stomach not your head, two you can't hit me like that, and three, you never need to worry about a demon going back on his word. Any verbal contracts with a demon are like soul pacts, If I break mine then you'll get all my power an vice versa, if you break your word then I guess I'll simple gain controll of your body… I don't like your body yet."**

"Shut it Fox-Teme. So when's my training start, how we going to do it, when's my bloodline going to activate?"

"**Calm down, that's lesson number one. Next, your bloodline is already active, it's just starts up slowly so you an get used to it. In two days it should be up and running without a problem. Next thing is we are going other places to get training, places where time is meaningless to your body, so you won't grow and your bloodline won't start activating. Now remember what I said, I need control over your chakra for a minute. Just relax and let go… good, next stop Coruscant.**

And with that Naruto took his first leap into greatness… well its more like he fell really, but that's a story for a different day.

_Auther Notes- I'll try and keep this short._

_One, Naruto will be going to a bunch of worlds, learning qa bunch of shit and will be a demigod of sorts. Oh there will be challenges, and in a few chapters when I bring back the rookie nine and other's you will understand. _

_Now Naruto will not have everything all at once, and I do need help with what my doujutsu will look like. There will be no sharingan for Naruto so don't even suggest it _

Just send me a good description of the eye's look after activation, along with what its later level's will look like and I will decide one of my own or one of yours.

Send in all the comments you want and can, and please feel free to criticize, I love to make fun of you guys who just complain.

Adios senorita's db3200, out.


	2. A trip down memory lane

A/N alright I know I said I was going to go through all the worlds with individual chapters, but after my computer crashed I found that it was quite difficult to do so since all my notes for this story were electronically saved, unlike my notes for Chuunin of the Leaf, which I never got a chance to finish. Please forgive and forget.

* * *

Chapter two- A Walk down memory lane.

* * *

Today was the day. The day that destiny's would be unveiled. They knew their duty, their paths were set, and in this morning they prepared for war…

Naruto woke up early on this day. It felt like a couple of months to him, though here time had not passed in the slightest. He set his materials on his futon and knelt down looking over them. He checked all of the kunai and shuriken he had specially made on Coruscant, which would never break when compared to normal weapons of the Elemental countries.

'_Hehe, had to sneak out of the Temple to have these made. By the time they were ready to be picked up it was even harder to sneak out, they were getting used to catching me.'_

Next was a small silvery tube he had obtained right before he left. He held the thing gently, not only for the power the weapon held, but for the fact that it had been held by someone he had managed to grow close too. She had been sweet, innocent, and so wonderful of a person.

"_**FLASH BACK"**_

_Naruto didn't know what was happening, but he felt something. Riko was training with him now, the blue Twi'lk helping him learn how to sense through the force. She would occasionally make a quick motion near him, his job was to sense that motion before it truly happened and counteract it. But right now he could swear there was a sound from the hall… was that a light sabre._

_As he looked towards the door she made a jab at him, turning quickly he grabbed her hand right before it connected with him. She had a very pleased look on her face. She was clearly concentrating on the training completely. _

"_Youngling, you did well! I believe if we keep working on this you will be ready to be a padawan before the month is up. I would be honored if you would be my pa-"_

"_Riko-sensei" he interrupted, "didn't you feel that? Something's in the hall." His face was a little anxious, he didn't know what he had sensed, it just felt wrong._

"_No," she frowned, opening herself to the force more fully, walking close to the door, "Master Windu always advises us to stay focused on the here and now." Naruto had that feeling in the force again and could see the young girl pale visibly. She quickly pulled open out her weapon of choice, the light saber, and stopped dead._

_To Naruto it looked as if there was a small dot of blue light from her back, but she had been rammed through with the light saber of for blue. As the door was knocked in, courtesy of the force, and _

_the young woman, truly a girl still, was buried underneath it, her unlit sword flying to land at Naruto's feet. The boy just stared on in awe and fear at the sight, bending down to retrieve the fallen weapon as if it would do him any good against a trained force wielder. In the hall was a man, cloaked in darkness, his hair hidden by the hood of his Jedi robes, along with much of his face. The only clear sight was that of his black and yellow eyes. _

_As the man slowly walked up to him, Naruto could feel the power of the Kyuubi forced into his body, a little voice in his head telling him to move. As the Sith Lord before him lifted his weapon Naruto stumbled back, grasping the metallic tube. As the blade decended it hit nothing but air, as Naruto had fell backwards into the nothingness of the Kyuubi's portal._

"_**END FLASHBACK"**_

He hadn't even turned the blade on to see the color, but he still kept the weapon nearby in case he had need of it soon. He might have been an emotional wreck right now if the Fox hadn't taken him to the Land of Spira, a place where he had been able to face the ghost that might have haunted him…

Turning his mind back to the task at hand he took up his next items, three scrolls he had kept in his possession. One scroll was gifted to him by the Lady Yuna. That scroll contained the secrets on how to wield a Zanbato as well as seven of the most powerful techniques known to sword bearers. The other two he had written himself, one on the night he had fought Mizuki, it contained the three jutsu he stole from the scroll. The other scroll contained any information the Kyuubi was willing to give him on his bloodlines. He wished the Fox would give him everything, but the damn fur coat wanted things to be 'interesting.'

He had managed to awaken two of the bloodlines with the help of the fox, the first on the night of the Mizuki fight. Naruto was told by the fox it was called the 'Refiner,' and that he would receive a huge boost in stamina, chakra, speed, strength, and all of his other senses, though they would be 'refined' over a course of a few weeks. He would start noticing things after a few days in his own world.

The other bloodline took a bit more to pry loose.

"_**OOOO FLASHY!"**_

_Naruto looked up at the tower before him. "The flying Spaghetti Monster's noodlie appendages!"_

"_**What!!" **__asked the fox, not nearly as distracted as Naruto._

"_Sorry, so where are we?" asked the boy as he adjusted his robes, he still had them from Coruscant, they seemed to be made of a wear resistant material and were very comfortable. _

"_**This my stupid little friend, is Earth, at the base of the Tower of Korin. There were once people who lived at the base of this tower but they have long since passed away. In fact there is probably only a couple hundred beings on this planet now, though that is a story for another day when I actually give a damn. Right now all you need to concentrate on it climbing that and getting a sip of **__**Chōshinsui!"**_

"_But I want to know a little more!" said Naruto, pouting to the demon in his stomach. Truly it was an award winning pout, one that would leave little girls weak in the knees_

"_**Um, gaki?" **__asked the nine tailed demon, a little worried._

"_Yes?" _

"_**I don't give a flying fuck. So start climbing!"**_

"_Fine! Just tell me where the stairs are!" to this the fox just started to chuckle, then break into full out laughter, "HEY! What's so funny baka fox?"_

"_**Nothing, nothing!"**__ reassured the fox, __**"It's just that there are no stairs."**_

"_What? But I thought you wanted me to climb this thing?" he was starting to get a little worried. After what the fox had done to him on Coruscant and Spira he wouldn't put it past him to make the boy climb on hands and feet alone. Oh how right he was._

"_**You know gaki, you said you wanted to be the Kamikage, that you would take any training I suggested, and, after that experiment with freefalling from the **_**Falcon **_**that you could handle anything that I could throw at you. You also made a Soul Pact that you would listen to my advice. If you disregard what I am telling you then I may be able to take over your body right now. Now I want you to start climbing and you're going to like it!"**_

_Naruto hated it when the damn fox spoke, it had an annoying way of getting its way no matter what Naruto wanted, "FINE! But I won't like it!"_

_**-N-I-N-E-T-A-I-L-E-D—F-O-X-E-S—A-R-E—S-E-X-E-Y--next day at noon--**_

_Korin was amazed at the boy. Sure he had started to slow down a bit, but he was still going steady. As Kami over the Earth he could hear the thoughts of all beings on the planet below, and when two new ones popped out of nowhere at the base of his tower he was interested. _

_The boy had a being of great power sealed within his body, one that was on a level equal to the warrior Goku when he arrived on Namek all those years ago… and the boys hidden potential was nothing to scoff at either, though he suspected he would never be stronger than even half of what Goku was capable of when he first became a Super Saiyan, even with the Others power added to his own._

_Right now, as he entered the home stretch to the towers top, the boy was starting to grasp something the Other was telling him, on how to stick to objects by filling the part of your body you wanted with Chakra… another name for Ki perhaps?_

_Reading further into the boys thoughts he found dreams, ambitions, fears, and anger. The boy wanted to be a God in the Shadows… a ninja perhaps? Though the only ninja he had heard of were pretenders that Goku had defeated easily when he was a boy. He was feared by and afraid of his own villagers, yet he wanted the love and attention of them anyways. None of it made sense to his furry old head._

_Quickly scratching behind his cat ears with his wooden stave, he walked down to greet his first guest in nearly a century. Or would it be 'guest's', there is a voice in his head after all? _

_As the boy pulled himself up he seemed to be cursing something, "Blackmailing, evil, know-it-all foxes from hell." After that he just seemed to be lying there as if he was dead, only the quick sound of breathing and the raising and lowering of his chest saying otherwise._

"_Congratulations!__" he said walking over to the boy. Apparently the boy had been expecting someone up here or he might of reacted a little differently. Korin was a little disappointed, he was hoping to get a little more reaction._

_Naruto opened his eyes at the voice, "WHAT THE-!" he only got that far because he jumped straight up and bonked his head on the ceiling of the stone temple. That was more like what the biped cat wanted._

"_Hello there!"__ he asked in his scratchy voice, "__I am Korin, Kami over the Earth. And you, my friend are Naruto Uzumaki.__"_

_As the blonde haired enigma glared up at the cat man he said scathingly, "Thanks! I didn't know!"_

"_Well then, you seem to have a pleasant attitude. I think a nice walk down the side of the tower would do you well… No you seem quite interesting… Perhaps you would like to tell me why you have visited me today?__"_

_Now Naruto would normally have his usual loud brash and annoying self, except the fox didn't quite agree with this idea. Well fuck, would _you _mess with god? Would you like to piss off the invisible man in the sky who can smite you with the gunk he pulls out from under his eyes in the morning… I-thought-NOT!_

_Instead he got down on his knees, grumbling all the way, and bowed before the cat man, "Kami-sama! I humbly request that you would give me a chance to drink from the true Sacred Water, __Chōshinsui." Sure, he was only mimicking words that had been said by the Fox as they had climbed the Tower, but he felt he pulled them off pretty nicely. Him and the Fox had had a lot of 'bonding time' while climbing the Tower, and, in that time, since it was the first actual alone time the two had had, the fox demon had told Naruto some of his plan._

"_No."__ was the only word he heard._

"_What?" asked the Uzumaki, a little dazed at having climbed the tower and been denied._

"_I said 'no' you may not yet drink from Chōshinsui. I need something from you in order to justify it."_

"_URG!" yelled Naruto as he pointed at the cat, "Come on?! I climbed all the way up here using just chakra and my own body, but you won't let me drink a little water?" huffing, he turned his back to the god, "Fine, as long as you ain't now pedophile freak… what'cha want?"_

"_Nothing much. Just don't call me a pedophile and tell me please about that amazing thing you have sealed inside your body."_

_It was said so nonchalantly that Naruto didn't even miss a beat, "HA! That stupid fox ain't nothing special, just a stupid demon that's-" At this point Naruto's eyes were bulging, the Kyuubi in of his majesty was growling at the boy for his stupidity, and Korin… he just scratched behind his ears with the wooden stave again, purring gently._

"_What's wrong? Not used to people talking so calmly about it?"__ Korin couldn't help it, he started reading into the boys mind again, he was so much more intriguing than the sentient beings on Earth _

_were… in fact he found the same to be true with what he remembered of Goku and Vegetta's descendents, perhaps it was just those of power that were like this, those who knew the workings of power._

"_Yeah," he said cautiously, "Since the only people who talked to me about it were in the middle of a life or death battle, one of which was trying to kill me after tricking me into stealing a powerful object… so yeah, no one's been able to talk calmly about the fox."_

"_Well, if you want to drink from Chōshinsui, then you need to tell me about it. In return I will let you drink from the water and help you on your way to become Kamikage."_

_The fox boy just stared at him for a few seconds…_

_**-d-o-y-o-u-r-e-m-e-m-b-e-r-n-e-o-p-e-t-'-s-- Sometime later.**_

"_And that's when I started to climb… That pretty much covers it. I don't know too much about the fox itself… it hasn't even said a word while we've been talking. It seems a little touchy about its power, I mean it flipped out on me when I mentioned trying to use its Aura…"_

"_Now that, Naruto, is a very interesting story you tell… one I don't know quite what to make of it. The power of the fox is truly impressive compared to the power of normal humans trained in the ways of Ki, what you call chakra. Though I have seen beings with much, much greater, it is still powerful. At this point, if you were to release the full power of the fox alone, directed at the planet itself, it would be destroyed. At the very least your Elemental countries would be nothing but a dent in the ground filling with water. But enough of this, it is time."_

"_Time, time for what?" Naruto wasn't stupid, he had just gotten so caught up in talking of the fox that he had forgotten why he came here in the first place._

"_Why, time to drink of the sacred waters, __Chōshinsui__. If you don't want it anymore than just tell me and I will send you on your ways."_

_The boys eyes widened as he remembered why he was to climb the tower in the first place. "Right, right, well, we better get started then. The Kyuubi had told me that this would take a little while, though I don't know why."_

"_Oh, that? Well… perhaps it is better for you to drink it first and then I shall tell you the secret of the water."__ In a few minutes the cat god returned with a small tray, a plain tea cup and pot sitting on it. Pouring a glass Korin spoke, __"Now your going to want to drink it all at once or you won't feel the full effects, and if you drink it once then you can never try again. Here,"__ he said handing Naruto a full cup, Chugging it down swiftly naruto put the cup back and his eyes bulged. With two big eye smiles Kami then gave his blessings, "Hopefully you survive!" Then Naruto fell down into a fetal position from the massive amounts of pain. Brining up a chair Korin sat in watch, a silent vigil through Naruto's long night…_

_**-T-H-E-F-O-X-E-S-P-O-I-N-T-O-F-V-E-I-W** _

_As the powerful poison that was __Chōshinsui, flowed through Naruto's veins the Nine-Tailed-Fox prepared his chakra for what he was going to do. The first night Naruto heard of the fox he was so distraught that the path between the Fox demon and Naruto's chakra's opened completely, allowing undiluted demonic power to flood into his body, altering his genes in a way. Since it was such a brief burst of power all it did was turn on one set of chromosomes, the ones that he was genetically predisposed to, The Refiner, changing it from a recessive gene to a dominate one . Any less power or amount of time active and Naruto would likely have never awoken the Refiner or been able to even talk to the Kyuubi… he would have been normal you could say._

_The Kyuubi knew this, and as such, knew that he could use his chakra to activate and change the kids other possible bloodlines. The only problem being that he couldn't force his chakra directly into the kid like that and it would takeyears of meditation to get Naruto into such an open position again anyways. By then it would be too late, bloodlines needed the body to be in a state of constant change for bloodlines to become active, thus birth, puberty, or through a third more powerful party. The Kyuubi was that party in this case, though he needed a medium to work through. The Poison that ran through Naruto's veins was that medium. _

"_**First thing, let's get a closer look at the Refiner. The kid may think I know a lot about it, but I only glimpsed at it that night."**__ Needless to say, he was less than impressed, __**"My GOD! The kid's crawling out of the shallow end of the genetic pool! Lets see what I can do here… interesting. Well he'll be tall, strong, fast his senses will be beyond anything even I could do, he will run on like the Energizer Bunny, and his chakra will be like a waterfall… I could go farther than this, but I want to work on the others. Let's just add this then, a time frame, otherwise it'll all come on him too fast and he'll die from the strain."**_

_Now the Kyuubi looked at his other two bloodlines. One was something that was incomplete and would have taken generations before it even became anything. The other on the other hand was his father's bloodline, one that seemed to skip a generation or two. __**"Damn, a chakra based bloodline! These are rare... and none I have ever heard of does this. If my chakra control didn't suck like shit then I would be able to do something more with this, but as it is should wait to mess around with it, I don't want to cripple the kid. Lets move on."**_

_Looking to check on Naruto's body he found that his chakra, as it always did, just seem to keep him alive and fight the poison. __**"I don't want the poison to all be destroyed though, or I won't have any medium to work through. The kid will be in a little pain but I think I should tone down my chakra a little… He'll live through it, he's tougher than I was at that age.**_

_Next was the Doejutsu. Having been able to use chakra to alter his sight while alive the Fox already knew how to do this pretty well. __**"It seems that mixing the enhanced senses of the Refiner with the chakra power of his father's bloodline would have eventually created a bloodline, though it would have taken thousands of years before it would have awoken as anything more useful than a change in color. But with me working behind the scenes it will be great!"**__the great fox started to work his magic now, talking to himself as he worked,__** "I've had great ideas for this thing ever since I read it in his **_

_**genetics. A doejutsu that is completely malleable to what I want it to do! Forget the Uchiha, and the Hyuga, and the training of the Jedi, and that damned sage with his ringed eyes - I have this! A doejutsu that will beat them all, without ever **_**being**_** any of them."**_

_Silently the fox worked from this point, concentrating on creating an eye that would evolve with the owner. Once again so as not to open a can of worms by hurting the possessor. When It was done the foxed looked over once more.__** "Beautiful…"**_

"_Looking on at Naruto one more time he realized that Naruto would awaken soon, his own chakra now fighting against the weakened poison as well. __**"Shit! I haven't even touched the other bloodline!"**_

_Racing over through Naruto The fox began to alter the boys genes, trying in vain to activate the bloodline. __**"GOD DAMN IT! His body is developing an immunity to me touching his genetics! With me so focused on the eyes I didn't even notice it. While that portion remained weak to my influence the others were being strengthened!"**__ Flying around like a he was possessed… which is kind of ironic if you think about it, the Bijuu could feel himself forcefully removed from its containers blood and back behind the seal._

_Staring out through the boys eyes all that was heard was a simple, __**"Damn that was close!"**_

_**-K-I-L-L-F-U-R-B-Y Back to the baka**_

_As Naruto awoke all he could feel was a dull aching from… well from everywhere really. The only thing that actually hurt were his eyes. Looking up he could see Korin, still looking without expression as he had since meeting the boy._

"_Well that's interesting."__ Were his only words, simple and straight to the point as usual._

"_And what would that be." He asked as he covered his eyes in his arms, the pain slowly dying away, though too slowly for the blue eyed shinobi. He felt like he could feel the ground all around him, and it was starting to make him sick._

"_I think It would be best if you looked for yourself, there's a pot of clean water over there."__ He said pointing over to a row of blue stone pots._

_Lifting off the wooden cover of one of the pots Naruto peered inside, looking at his own face… it was the exact same face, the same whiskers, the same tanned skin, the same blue and black eyes with triangular iris', and the same… _'Wait a minute, that ain't right!'

_Yes, now Naruto's eyes were changed to signify his new bloodline limit. The Iris remained the same natural blue except now the iris was in the shape of a triangle. In addition the whites of his eyes where black as midnight and the pupil itself was so small it was near impossible to see._

_Looking at the eye only brought on a further bout of nausea as he felt the ground all around him. Hell he swore he could even feel the pot he looked in, even Korin now that he thought about it._

"_Fox!" he said out loud, not caring how crazy he might have sounded to Kami before him. "Fox what did you do to my eyes? And how do I make it stop, or else I'm going to be sick?"_

"_**Nothing much gaki, just gave you a bloodline that can tromp anything else I have ever seen."**__You could practically feel the pride in his voice, it was the same feeling as when he talked of his own powers._

"_So whats it do then?" he asked trying to get used to the feeling he was having. _

"_**Well imagine being able to feel the entire world around you, every person, every building, every single stone. What have given you is the ability to FEEL everything around you, just like you were actually touching it. At this point it will be like your holding something that had a thick layer of silly puddy around it, vague blobs than actual shapes, but that will change as the eye grows. The more it grows the clearer everything will be. Just don't think it will all be easy though, I made this eye so you will have to train your ass off for it to even be used practically. If you are not aware of what you are feeling, or what your supposed to be feeling then the eyes will be useless to you. Also, and this is very important, you do NOT see things, you are feeling them. As such you can't tell your friends from your enemies… for the moment, as things become clearer for you, you will start to recognize peoples shapes and sizes, and hopefully, though this may be hard for you, follow where they are by sense alone. This is all I will tell you for now, I want you to figure out the rest by yourself."**_

_Naruto was simply dumb founded by what he was told. Suddenly he realized he COULD feel everything. Looking at Korin, who was once again scratching himself he realized that he could feel the general size of Korin and that there was something there, but that was it. The only abnormality was the fact that his stave was taller than he was and almost felt like a chimney off of the god._

"_Woot."_

"_**FLASHBACK-- Billy NNOO- would you look at that. Ain't that purdy.-- END"**_

Naruto hadn't been able to come up with a name for the bloodline yet, but he felt like he was on a major breakthrough with his next level.

Moving on he picked up a giant four pointed shuriken, a yellow crystalline orb sitting in the very center, and looked over the other two objects near it, the first was a giant sword, which took up most of the room on the bed, two green orbs set into it near the base. The second was and arm protector that had been specially designed for him, glittering with several purple orbs, two yellow ones and a single green one.. They had all been gifted to him from the only other ninja he had met while planet jumping.

**Flash-bang-bac**_**k-boom**_

"_Now Naruto, are you sure you wouldn't like to stay here and train with me? Truly I think you could reach your full potential if you followed my regimen."__ Asked Korin as he walked Naruto to the side of his Tower._

"_No," he began, "The fox says that there are other places we need to go, more training I need to begin before I can start to specialize." _

"_Very well, but at least let me give you a kinto cloud to help on your journey. If you are ure of heart it should let you fly on it and take you where ever you request of it."_

"_I am sorry Kami-sama, but the fox-teme says that I won't need to fly to get where I am going… what! NO! I am not jumping off again! Fine, Fine! Just shut your trap. Sorry Kami-sama, but the fox says we need to leave now."_

_Waving goodbye to the cat man Naruto simply jumped off the side of the large construct. Feeling the air rush around him he let himself relax so the fox could start to use its chakra and open a portal to another world. That was the requirement for the fox to be able to use chakra, Naruto had to be relaxed. Sure it couldn't effect his body in any way, since there was no direct link, but the fox knew some things like this, how to make a portal._

_Feeling the fox's chakra slowly enter his body he noticed that it was moving a little slower than usual._

"_Um… fox, you should really hurry up, If you don't make the portal soon I might touch down…"_

"_**I know…"**_

"_And that would be bad…"_

"_**I know…"**_

"_And would really hurt…"_

"_**I KNOW…"**_

"_And we would die awful terrible deaths as soon as we hit the ground, likely splattering against earth sending limbs and my insides all across the country side in a flood of red blood…"_

"_**Don't try and tempt me… Your body has started to build a resistance to my chakra, so its slow work. Hell I spent so much time on the Doejutsu for you that I couldn't even properly activate your fathers bloodline. The best I could do was to make it so you MIGHT activate it naturally."**_

"_What! I went through all of that pain and you didn't even activate both bloodlines well what the hell am I-"_

"_**PREPARE FOR IMPACT!"**_

_With a start Naruto looked down to see a strange red cloud right below him, the portal. Hitting it didn't hurt; it was the sudden loss of motion, the effects of inertia, and his neck being flung back violently that hurt. Gritting his teeth he made himself remember to thank the fox for slowing him down before transporting them. Slowly they began to sink through the cloud until Naruto could see the planet below, a city made with traditional Japanese buildings and red singled roofs. Off to the side was a mountain that looked even more majestic than the Hokage's Monument, with whole bodies carved into the stone as it followed several winding paths._

_Now, Naruto could see all of this, because he was sticking out of a cloud, and where do clouds reside? In the sky, very good. Well he had experienced inertia today, time to face gravity and see if he could stand up to its test._

_He didn't yell as he plummeted down, near the base of the mountain, since he had fallen from higher heights in Coruscant. All he did was hope that he hit a low laying trail._

_As the mountain beside him sped by he saw the trail he hoped he would hit… just as he flew past it. As he did though he saw someone jump too him, with his eye's still active he felt as something small came flying towards him, though what it was he didn't know. Now he felt a rope tighten around his body and his desent suddenly slow down. Swinging inwards he hit the side of the mountain with a thud and was slowly dragged upwards._

_Reaching the top he was thrown to the ground, the ropes that bound him where loosened and he heard the concerned voice of a female, "Are you alright? You must have fallen from one of the trails to have been going that fast?"_

"_Yeah, thank you, though I would have been fine after a while." He responded while rubbing where his arms had been tired by the rope and where his shoulder hit the mountain. Looking up he saw her, a beautiful creature. She wore strange footwear (Sneakers) and long socks. Her shorts, which lived up to their name, were a light tan kaki material. She wore a tight green shirt which showed off her, maturing breasts in a way that was very pleasant to the eyes. She had a head band around her short cropped black hair, with a few eagle feathers sticking out of the back, and had an tan-white arm protector on her left, while the other simply had a striped green arm warmer, and was holding a giant four pronged Shuriken. On her back was a second one, a much nicer one. She had several pouches around her waist and Naruto already knew what they were for. "I am Naruto Uzumaki. Are you a shinobi?"_

_Getting a sly grin on her face she just did a couple of eye smiles, "Yup, the Names Yuffie Kisaragi!" _

_For some reason Naruto couldn't help but blush…_

**"_END OF THE BACK FLASH"_**

He remembered the time he spent with her in Wutai fondly. It was a time he could live among shinobi peacefully, practicing Wushi with Yuffie's students on the outskirts of the city and at the 

beaches. Naruto also knew that he had fallen in love with the black haired kunoichi. They would often walk the streets together late at night and eventually Naruto was introduced to Cloud Strife, a mercenary for hire that Yuffie was close friends with, and Vincent, the man who had designed the arm protector for him.

He had, during one of their 'walks' told her about his scrolls, which she was quite interested in. Of the techniques he had there she had labeled the Rasengan as the only real ninja technique, since it was the only one that could be stealthy, deadly, and quick to execute when needed. The summoning was largely impractical, though if used could destroy a whole island such as Wutai without the need of an army. As for Balefire… she just thought of the implications and shuttered. When he mentioned to her about his scroll full of sword techniques she simply told him, one of those sly grins on her face, that he should have someone how to use a sword.

He didn't just sit idly and let the days pass him by though, he was training like a man possessed. He began to work on the stages of the Rasengan under the tutelage of the fox and some help from Yuffie, who gave him one of her preferred shuriken, with a quite useful stone know as the slash-all material, in the center. According to her all he had to do was channel some chakra into the stone and the shuriken would fly true and fast towards all the enemies in his sight, and since it was mastered it wouldn't be stopped by anything. He didn't know what that meant, mastered, he most certainly wasn't a master at anything to do with the large shuriken, but she said that the sparkling inside the orb meant it had been mastered.

She had originally given him the shuriken so he could practice the first part of the Rasengan, to give your chakra spin. To do this the Yondaime wrote to first practice making your chakra spin horizontally, then at different angles. Naruto had gotten this part easy by using the shuriken. And by placing chakra in his hand at the same time he managed to make the giant shuriken even more deadly, since it would spin like crazy, but wouldn't leave his hand until he sent it flying. They had experimented with so much that they were almost sad to move on to the second part of the 'Spin stage.' For this Naruto's task was to burst a balloon, as suggested in the scroll. Since he had so much practice with spinning his chakra from the shuriken he was able to complete this step in a single night.

At the end of the night Naruto went to give the fifteen year old girl her weapon back and she simply refused, saying she wanted him to have it. Then, taking out a single yellow orb, she placed it right in the center, telling him all about the new Slash-all-Shuriken!

The second step had required him to add power to the spin, which, to his surprise was quite easy compared to how it was described in the scroll. It had told him to use a solid rubber ball and add spin to it in the same manner as the balloon until it too exploded. But when he did he found that the ball was quite easily destroyed. So he moved on to something harder, feeling that he needed to challenge himself. Now using a well shaped rock was much more difficult, something that he had had to work on until he left the island and world all together

He had also been trained extensively in the art of the sword by the man Cloud. Since the scroll Naruto had was for how to use a Zanbato, Cloud felt that he was better off teaching Naruto the basics 

for sword fighting in general and making sure the boy could handle the weight of one before he let him start training with his prized weapon, the Buster Sword. At the end of a month in the mountains with cloud he had managed to win away the man's sword and his choice of any two materia he wanted to go with it…

Then there was his bloodline, which had been aptly named the Oboegan. Yuffie had really been rooting for something a little cooler, but Naruto didn't want to just call it 'the doejutsu' any longer. The Oboegan had, ironically, been best trained in Yuffie's Wushi classes. Since there was so much movement in the classes, which simply taught the forms of martial arts, not the practical fighting, Naruto was often tested on keeping track of many people and objects, the latter was especially true in the advanced classes taught by Yuffie's father, where he had them using real weapons and made them add all sorts of jumps and crazy moves to make sure they were flexible enough to advance on the practical fighting with the other full shinobi in Wutai, of which Naruto had met none. Needless to say he had progressed, though he had made himself not look in a mirror to see how far he was, a… personally test if you would.

Finally the day came when Naruto was to leave. The Kyuubi had told him the night before, when he had mastered the second stage of the Rasengan. That night Naruto had received two gifts, both of which he would hold close to his heart until the day he died.

The first was the arm brace, designed by the red clothed Vincent, a masterful man, who had made the gauntlet to absorb four different elements, and outfitted it with six different material that Yuiffie had hand selected.

The second, while less practical for an aspiring shinobi like himself, was much much better of a present to him; a quiet and heart filled kiss from the young girl, four years his elder. That night he held her close to him while they lay on top of Mt. Wutai.

The next morning Naruto took leave of this world like he did any other, by falling or jumping. Strangly it wasn't a jump that sent him over this time, as he waited for the Kyuubi to tell him the portal was ready, not quite trusting the mountain to be tall enough after his little problem leaving Korin's tower an age ago. No it was a push, or, to be more precise, a glomp.

**FLASHBACK NO JUSTU! -- Hey look! Its Gizmo… looks thirsty, someone get him some water!**

_Standing there on the brown rock of Mt. Wutai Naruto looked down at the sprawling Shinobi city below. As he felt the Kyuubi prepare the chakra necessary for the interplanetary portal. Closing his eyes he activated the Oboegan, not daring to look behind him and lose the resolve to actually leave. These three months here had been paradise to Naruto, but he knew he couldn't stay here. He had a home, no matter how strange it might seem to others, in the Hidden Leaf. He had dreams, ambitions, and obligations in Konoha as a shinobi, something that he could never achive here._

_As he felt the for the girl he could feel her sadness, and a touch of anger right next to it, not hidden by it like some emotions could be. That had been one of the new abilities he had managed to _

_unlock from the Oboegan, the power to feel emotions. Right in the center of all her emotion though, was something Naruto could only describe as commitment. The girl herself was blurry, like she was covered in a thick layer of clay. He could tell that there was a human there, though gender itself seemed to slip past him, let alone who it actually was. Most people felt like this too Naruto's doejutsu now, not just letting him know there was something there but telling him it was humanoid or not. He couldn't quite feel what they did either, only that a person was doing something at all._

_He knew though, that she was crying, he didn't need any bloodline to tell him that… he was crying too though, so it was almost expected on the young girl._

"_**It's ready kid."**__ Spoke the kitsune, even it was feeling a little saddened, but knew that Naruto couldn't stay here. Testing Naruto's resolve he asked, __**"You know… we could stay here if you want. You would never grow old and you could train forever undisturbed by the meandering villagers or by shinobi life in general."**_

"_No… I _must_ leave." He said out loud, to answer the fox, convince himself, and let Yuffie know it was time. "I have an obligation to my village as shinobi, and no matter what the villagers have done too me I have an obligation to go back there and prove them wrong about me." He heard a little sob from Yuffie, who had been appalled by the treatment he had received from his own people, "I have to go, otherwise," he began to turn and looked at Yuffie with his eyes now open, the Oboegan active, a small sad smile playing with the tears on his face, "how will I become the Kamikage and create the village of Wutai were I would rule from!" _

_That had been something they had joked about when he told her his dream, that he would build a village named Wutai in remembrance for her and would rule the world from there as its benevolent Shinobi God._

_Staring into his blue eyes a sly smile came on to her face, "Well," she said, her voice straining from all the crying, "I guess I'll have to make sure you keep your promise then." _

_Naruto didn't know what he felt first, her sadness and anger disappearing to be replaced by that feeling of commitment in whole, or her jumping on top of him, sending both of them over the edge of the mountain where they had been standing. Rocks and earth and faces carved in the mountain side sped past them as they hit the red mist that appeared out of nowhere and was soon replaced by the messy room where Naruto's journey had begun, ten seconds earlier._

_Landing with a thud Naruto could feel his sword and shurinken fighting with his kunai to see what would stab him first. But that didn't matter, as right now all he could concentrate on was the feel of her warm body in his arms and her wet lips against his. Unlocking their lips the two looked into each other's eyes until Yuffie finally buried her head into his chest and fell asleep._

"**ENDING NO JUTSU!-- awe, isn't THAT **_**CUTE!**__**BUT IT'S WRONG!**_

Done looking over his equipment he began to change into a spare set of robes he had made in Wutai, in the same style of the Jedi. His under clothing was complete black pants and a black kimono top 

that was very flexible and easy to fight in, just like the Jedi he had seen in Coruscant wearing, with matching black boots. Here he tucked his light saber at his belt and placed two of his ninja pouches, one carrying his alloy kunai and shuriken, the other had his three scrolls which had needed to carry on his person until he had a safe place to hold them.

Then he produced the silvery arm protector, that Yuffie had had made for him, and placed it on his left forearm. Next he brought out his traditional brown over robe, these would be able to hold more equipment, conceal his true identity if he pulled up his hood and could make hitting him harder with the way the cloak billowed when he moved. Over top of that he strapped on the Buster Blade over his left shoulder, one of the two orbs sparkling with a mysterious glint that proclaimed it mastered. The he put on the Slash-all-Shuriken, which went on near his right shoulder. Lastly he placed his hitai-ate around his forehead in the traditional fashion.

Sure, adding more weight to the outer cloak could be a liability, but for the moment the risks were outweighed by the benefits. If he ever needed to remove the cloak he could simply draw his sword and throw the shuriken as a distraction while he removed its added weight.

Taking some standard kunai and shuriken he placed them inside his robes pockets for use if he needed it. Walking out the door, after kissing a sleeping kunoichi goodbye, Naruto prepared for a whole new adventure.

Taking the first step down from his house was pretty interesting for him, It just seemed to remind him of his first time leaving his world for another…

"**ffffflllllASHSHSHSSH bACK!"**

"_**Now remember what I said," **__came the voice of the Kyuubi no kitsune, as Naruto stood in his home, just having learned of the fox, his possible bloodlines, and what he would be training in other worlds, "__**I need control over your chakra for a minute. Just relax and let go… good, next stop Coruscant."**_

_And with that… nothing seemed to change. Hearing a sizzling sound from his feet, the Uzumaki looked down. Now he saw the portal, because where his hardwood floor should have been was burnt away by the kyuubi's demonic chakra. Below him, though, was not the earth as he would have expected, but a city made entirely out of metal and glass. "Wow, It almost looks like I would fall right through."_

"_**Um… Gaki?"**_

"_Yeah?"_

"_**That is the portal, it is real."**_

"_Oh! Ok, so since I'm… standing… on it…"_

"_**I swear, one of your brain cells just turned to the other one and simply told him 'it is dark in here, and we may die'"**_

_And with that Naruto fell to the city below. Sure he screamed as he fell, but hell, it was still quite a view. In the permanent sunset of the city the gases in the atmosphere made the most _

_beautiful sky that had ever been seen, full of oranges and reds and pinks and yellows of all shades. Between the reflective black glass of the tall buildings Naruto could see a temple of sorts, with four tall while towers surrounding a single dome of gold, so beautiful in the setting sun that he stopped screaming just in time to hit the durasteel platting of the landing bay outside the home of Senetor Skywalker-Amidala._

**He,ho,flashbackend,hum**

Those were some good times!

Looking at the sun as it was cracking over the horizon he threw up his hood and began to walk towards the academy.

It was strange walking around the village, with no able to recognize the boy in his now tame clothing. Sure he missed the orange jumpsuit, I mean who wouldn't, but he liked this feeling he got. It was almost like being accepted.

It was also strange having his Oboegan activated as he walked through the dense population of Konoha. He could feel every single one of them, big ones, small ones, angry ones and happy ones. He could feel killing intent at times when there were raised voices, though never directed at himself. He could also feel people climbing around on the lower roofs and even the sides of some buildings. Naruto knew that they must be ninja, though he could never see any of them. _'Perhapes it's the ANBU I'm feeling. That would explain why I can't find them with my own two eyes.'_

Soon the Uzumaki of Konoha arrived at the building he was looking for, a five story building that held every class of shinobi that came to konoha, along with rooms to hold the Chuunin and Jounin exams. On top of the academy was a green house that held all of the plants used for the kunoichi's courses and a little garden where students could relax, spend time together, or eat their lunches.

Entering the building Naruto quickly went to the room where he had spent the past year trying to become a Shinobi of the Leaf. Only a few of the students were there yet and the only ones that seemed to stand out were Shikamaru Nara and Shino Aburame, who were currently playing a game of Shougi.

Shino was a quiet one, to say the least.He always wore a white-green coat that he kept closed tight, and had a pair of scythes that knew how to use in his coat sleeves, though how they stayed there was a mystery. He fell right in the middle of the class, dead center too. The only time his position ever changed was when some of the 'fangirls' decided to make fun of him and taunt him, and brag about how good Sasuke was. So, without saying a word to them Shino let his grades raise up, first academics, then physical, alternating the two periodically. To the teachers it was quite funny, that though everyone thought Sasuke better, Shino had such complete control over his mind and body to manipulate his grades that the Uchiha never had, frustrating because he was a student that refused to give his all, and simply amazing that the boy seemed quite content to do this for revenge when the students in the class were quite ignorant to what he could do. Perhaps Shino just thought it was funny… Shino seemed like the kinda guy that liked to laugh.

The other, Shikamaru was a rugged looking child, with his hair up in a pineapple style. He carried many weapons with him, with some on his chest, two holsters on his hip (one left one right) and one on either leg. The boy wore a fishnet shirt under a thin jacket and a set of tan pants that led down to his ninja sandles. If there was anyone smarter than Shikamaru, then Naruto didn't know them. The boy could tell you the most obscure facts and histories without blinking an eye, yet try and pry information out of him, like Naruto had one time, and you would be telling him your life's story without even knowing it.

Sitting down at the top of the room, in the center of one of the desks, he waited for the rest to arrive. Soon after himself came Choji Akamichi who went and sat with the Nara. He was a giant of a boy, who nearly stood two feet taller than Naruto and, though it was mostly hidden by a layer of fat, was very muscular. In the style of his father, Choji was also letting his red hair grow long, so he could one day use it as a weapon with jutsu his family had in their possession, and had on a set of reddish purple armor with the family creed of 'Eat' on the front and back.

Next was the Don himself… SASUKE UCHIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Naruto just grinned a little seeing the withering glares exchanged between the Uchiha and Akamichi, with Shikamaru's eyes thinning a little in distastes.

Sasuke was dressed in white khaki shorts and a blue long sleeve shirt that had a high collar and the Uchiha's white and red fan on the back. He carried no weapon and had no armor, but that said nothing of the skill of the boy, or how dangerous he could be. The boy was ruthless in his spars and had managed to have at least three kids drop out of the shinobi program because of him. Sasuke simpky walked up and sat next to the Inuzuka kid in the row below Naruto, though not because they were friends.

'_Perhaps his smell will keep some of the fangirls away. He works nearly as good as the dobe at that.'_

Soon after the glaring match between the two another duo entered. Ino Yamanaka, clad in a purple breast plate that loosened into chain mesh near the shoulders for freedom and a lightly plated skort (short's-skirt combo) and had her hair done up into a long ponytail. The second was Sakura Haruno with her close cut hair, dressed in a black and red breast plate similar to Ino's, save that it extended to cover her down to the middle of her stomach. Below that was a simple pair tight red pants that matched the top well. At Ino's shoulder one could see she carried a bokken, while all that looked could see a real sword resting on Sakura's back, sticking out horizontally at her waist, a pink and red Ninja-to.

They were two girls that any man would die to be with, something that the pair knew, and used to their advantage. Even older gentlemen seemed to fall for them when they pulled out all the stops.

Walking up to where Sasuke and Kiba were sitting now they proceeded to kick the Inuzuka out of his seat and sit on either side of Sasuke, flirting in such a manner that would be expected of women twice their age.

Looking around Naruto noticed that the seats were almost all full, with only one seat next to him open in the whole room, Kiba having taken the other one next to him. Looking to see who was missing he let out a curse… _'Please… not HER!'_ Too late, she entered the room and began to walk towards the open seat, probably having seen it before even entering the building. Yes, the one and only Hinata Hyuga, heiress to the Hyuga Clan of Konoha, and generally know to the class as 'The Bitch.' Something she found hilarious.

As he felt her eyes on him, or rather that of the Byakugan, he saw her release a little smile. He had liked the class not knowing who he was too. Oh well, easy come easy go!... actually he had to through hell to get the class not to recognize him… damn! He quickly deactivated his Oboegan; silently hoping the girl didn't notice his eyes.

Hinata Hyuga was infamous in Konoha. She had made her first kill when most students had still been simply playing with the idea of becoming shinobi. She had been very confident and very 

strong ever since she was six years old and the world had started to notice her, what with the Kumo incident and all. But in the past two years she had also become angry, claiming that Konoha shinobi's were too weak. She, strange as it might sound, did not place herself above others because of her blood, but because she was simply better. She had, for reasons unknown to anyone but herself, trained like no one else Konoha had ever seen. She had become strong because she would not give up, her bloodline only made her stronger.

She had been a nightmare for Naruto. Ever since he entered the class he had had an instant enemy in the kunoichi in training, even though he had never done anything to deserve it. She would put him down and humiliate him for no apparent reason. When they ended up sparring in class she would use her Juken to beat him down mercilessly, even being thrown out of the academy for a month for refusing to stop a fight with him when the teacher commanded it.

To be fair she was like that to everybody to some extent, even Sasuke, and was currently the Rookie of the year, with Sasuke Uchiha just trailing her.

When she arrived on the landing that Naruto and Kib were sitting at, she first towards Kiba, "Send your little pet away. I really don't want any tick marks from an animal."

"Hey! Akamaru does not have fleas! Besides you know I wouldn't send him away for any reason." Yelled the angry dog-boy.

"I know _he_ doesn't have fleas. That's why I told _him_ to send _you_ away. He is more than welcome to stay, perhaps he might even be able to provide a bit of intelligent conversation that seems to be beyond your capacity. Now Akamaru dear, can you please tell your little pet to go back home and wait for you?" Letting out a low growl Kiba stood up and went to lean against the back wall of the class. Akamaru just growled at the girl as he was carried away, giving her an evil eye the whole time.

Now that she had him all to herself she turned to Naruto and juts gave him a long measuring look. He looked at her too, trying not to let his eye's pause too long on certain parts. First there was her hair, a dark blue, nearly black, with went behind her head freely, yet seemed to be made of the finest silk. Next was her obvious white eyes of the Byakugan, veins bulging out signifying that it was active, though they were not as prominent as they might have been, save she had managed to achieve a state of partial activation that would let her leave it active nearly indefinitely, barely even touching on her reserves yet still letting her see anything around her save for chakra and the chakra points. She wore a black sleeveless shirt over a fishnet bra that went up a little higher than the shirt itself and a light purple long-sleeved mini-coat. On her lower body she had a black miniskirt that seemed to cover nothing and everything at once and a bit of binding around her right leg. The girl finished her outfit with her Hitai-ate tied around her neck like a choker and a single ninja pouch directly behind her. ((Inspired by and mostly taken directly from a pic on DeviantART- Hinata- Waiting at Midnight by ramy))

"Well, Well, well. What do we have here?" in a silent mocking voice, "I almost can't believe my eyes. You actually look presentable as a shinobi. You seem like you take on the world right now and actually stand on your own two feet." Now her voice raised and she said scathingly so the rest of the class could hear her, "And, as usual for the _wretched _ingrates that will now insist on telling themselves and others that they are _shinobi_,they fail to see what is right in front of their eyes. A person, heavily armed and furtively dressed, with no palpable Hitai-ate, entering and sitting down in a class where he or she had never been seen before and had no business being in. Congratulations Uzumaki-san! You are officially the third smartest being in the room right behind myself and Akamaru!"

This managed to get a glare from almost everyone in the room, save Akamaru, was now happy at the compliment, and Shino, who had simply decided not to do anything about the boy, who 

his bugs _had_ recognized, since he had managed to cloth himself in proper shinobi wear and hold himself properly under the weight of the sword he carried, something no one else in the room without an active doujutsu would have noticed save Hinata herself. Not all the glares were for Hinata either, who seemed to simply grow an even bigger smile when the glares intensified. Sakura and Ino in particular seemed to have a problem with Naruto, or more importantly with his choice of weapon.

"And _what, _might I ask, are you doing with that?" said the pink haired kunoichi as she pointed at the Zanbato over his left shoulder, "I didn't believe even you would have the audacity to walk into this room with a sword strapped to your back. I have trained for five _years_ in order to finally receive my sword," which she seemed to pat fondly, "and you just walk in here one day, never even held a sword I'm sure, and think I could let you insult me as such." Ino herself seemed a little disconcert when Sakura mentioned her own sword, but still held her gaze on the boy as such.

"Yes,yes," said Hinata now sounding like a dainty little 'Alice in Wonderland' girl, perhaps a little upset that Naruto had stolen some of the glares from the room, "what an insult it is too! I mean, bringing a weapon into his class and not telling you that he knows how to use it! How dare he?!" and too this she turned to Naruto and slapped him, letting her nails dig into his cheek, drawing but the tiniest bit of blood. "I think that for such a crime obvious death is the only fitting punishment! Oh Sas-uke!! We need you to brood in the direction of the evil, vile Naruto here, it's the only form of capital punishment cruel enough for such an atrocious crime." To this Naruto let out a little snort, and like magic all glares were on the girl again.

Placing their hands on their respective weapons both of the kenjutsu wielding kunoichi prepared for an all out offensive, while Hinata relaxed into a simple Juken stance, before letting it go and sitting in her seat, the two other girls both a little glad a fight hadn't broken out and confused on why the Rookie of the year backed down.

"Eh-hem! Ladies, would you mind not drawing your weapons on your fellow shinobi, Kiba, please sit down next to Naruto, and would you please stop picking your nose Micky!" Ah, the good old Iruka style, put them down and put them down quickly. Looking over the next generation of shinobi he made sure to get a good look at all the students he knew would go on to be the future genin, chuunin, and most likely jounin. Giving a quick speech he brought out the list of genin teams. Most were just for the fact that they would be on a team and fail together in one clump rather than send a promising student away, but the last three teams were the real deal.

"Team seven… Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and…

-**_beer-bee-beer-titilly-beer-beer-beer_**

**_In the Hokage's office twenty minutes ago._**

_**-s-s-s-s-d-d-d-d-f-f-ff—g-gg-g-g--sdfg!**_

The Jounin watched through a projector jutsu, used on the Hokage's crystal ball, as genin started to enter the classroom. First came Shikamaru, then Shino not ten seconds later, quietly setting up a game of Shougi for the two to play. There were some murmured comments on the Nara heir and some asked Iruka if it was true that Shino had been able to manipulate his own grades. In the back three particular shinobi watched, knowing they would be the ones to take on the three _real_ teams. Kurenai seemed quite interested in the conversations revolving around Naruto, but decided to question the Hatake first.

"Why are you reading _that_?" she asked, looking at the orange book with distate, "I mean its not like anything in there is going to help you with your students."

"Have you _seen_ my students? A Konoha Medical certified insane Uchiha, a love struck kunoichi who wields a sword she learned how to use from Ume of the Death Blossom, and then that last kid… yeah, I think this book will be perfect."

Taking a drag on his cigarette, Asuma decided to add his two sent to the conversation, "Oh I don't think that she means the book won't be useful, but that it might be a little… much."

"Thank you Asuma! I mean really? It may have been written by one of the Sannin, but that doen't mean it will be useful for little genin like these."

"I suppose…" and with that the masked Jounin put his book away, hoping to read a little more before he went off to the classroom, "Let's get a good look at the rest of the kids… who's the robed one? I don't think I've ever seen him before."

Iruka looked a little confused at the boy before noticing a birth mark on his cheek, "That would be Naruto Uzumaki." He said, a little dumbfounded, "Though when I saw him last night he hadn't been dressed like that! I have never known him to use any of those weapons either!" He was a little worried that Naruto might have stolen the objects from the village, though he did not see the bracer or else he might have sent a ANBU to arrest the boy right away. Instead he settled for one of the ANBU in the room to ask around town about stolen weapons, jewels, and clothing. If there had been nothing stolen that matched them then the boy must have found them or already owned them and told no one.

"A sword that big takes real skill to use." Stated one of the jounin in the room.

"Those weapons look way too expensive for a no clan named genin to own!"

"Hush up, here comes the Uchiha! His clan might have had the honor of dogs, but he'll be the strongest of us all!"

"I wonder if he'll be able to reproduce the Uchiha clan for us with an attitude like his."

"The Yuri Twin's are here now too!"

"Shut up Yaku, you perv!"

"You just sicken me you pedophile!"

"Well they really shouldn't act like that, it isn't becoming of Kunoichi, but they have the skills to be great."

"Oh shit!" "HA! He's screwed!" "Hinata 'the Bitch' Hyuga makes her enterance!" "Run Naruto! _Run!_" This last one was actually Iruka, who had seen how she usually treated the boy. Apparently she decided to spare him today his usual 'punishment,' as she called it for some reason, because he actually looked like he belonged in that class for the first time.

Soon it was time for Iruka to start giving his speech, while the shinobi began to think of reasons to fail this batch of powered up civilians, for that's all most of them were, civilians that knew how to use chakra and were in good shape, and the three sensei's prepared their student's 'tests.'

Picking up he book again, Kakashi started reading, and Kurenai simple muttered to herself as she left, "'Advanced psychoanalysis for the Mentally Incurable by Tsunade' for a bunch of genin! He's hopeless."

**_Fin

* * *

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If you guys would like too I would love to find a good beta reader, I know I ain't the best writer in the world and it would help me a lot… besides my updates can't get much farther apart.

And hey if you reviewed my story once during the AN i placed for chapter two, then remember you can always submit an unsigned review and leave a contact address, If you leave something good in my inbox I'll write back.


	3. To Test and Be Tested

A word on currency before we start. I don't know how yen and gil and any other currency in world works other than the US Dollar and how much Canadian money is worth in reference to the US money. I also know that the Euro is worth a lot more than the dollar. For Naruto's world its going to be like this:

Copper mark, which is paper money of low denomintation less than a US dollar, 2 would be more than a dollar though

Silver marks- five copper marks in a silver mark- these are the main denomination of the Narutoverse- with bills in single, five, twenty, and fifty.

Gold marks- one-hundered silver marks in a gold mark- which has the denominations in one, ten, fifty, and hundred. After this the money moves into Plates- flat plates made of precious metals

(This is going off the idea that the metals themselves will usually be forth more than what the government rates it at or it can be sold elsewhere for more as a universal type of currency recognized in all villages and countries

On average A thin silver plate is worth one hundred, thick silver plates- 200. A thin gold plate is 200 gold marks, thick gold plates- 400.

_**

* * *

**_

To Test and be Tested; true Genin of the Leaf.

* * *

Looking to either side of him he couldn't help but think of his teammates: a killer kunoichi and a dark and quiet boy with dark hair… well it could have been worse…

-_H-O-K-A-G-E-S-A-M-A_

Kakashi looked down at the three students he had, wearing his grey ANBU armor, a traditional face mask covering his lower half, and a white sword upon his back, his two black eyes staring at them, _'So this is team seven the Hokage has prepared me for?'_

Yes the copy nin had been told by the Hokage of what team he would have five years ago, after the first full year of the ninja academy had passed by. And he had prepared properly for the task that would be set before him.

_**FLASHBACK! Nananananana**_

_Kakashi Hatake stood in the doorway to the Hokage's office, at eleven in the morning, having been told to arrive at eight._

"_Ah! Kakashi, your just in time, I thought you might be late." Said the benevolent Hokage, a knowing smile on his face._

"_I was under the impression that I was late." Said the Jounin from behind his book, "You simply TOLD me to be here at eight didn't you?" he asked with his one visible eye narrowing. He didn't like being tricked._

"_Why, where would you get such an idea from? I mean it _is_ true, but why would you be so suspicions of me?" Motioning Kakashi inside he stood and turned to look out his rooms window, puffing at his pipe for a while, told the Cyclops to put his book away, letting Kakashi know that this would not be fun, "Have you heard the latest from the academy?" asked the gentle Hokage._

"_Yes, students training at a young age, those with clans and without. The Hyuga and the Uchiha seemed to have started a little rivalry and Ume-sama's daughter has taken up the sword. The Ino-Shika-Cho have all begun training their children and the Aburame have started to expand their clan's style into the field of weaponry as well, at the request of their son. It would also seem that the Yondaime's legacy has failed his first attempt at the exam, though he did start a little too early anyway." Amazingly the jounin did not even move out of his lazy slouch and his voice was so bored he sounded like an answering machine._

"_Yes, they will be an amazing group of individuals." He murmured as he took short puffs from his pipe, "and you," he said louder, "Kakashi Hatake, the man who has copied over a thousand jutsu and is known as the 'Copy-nin' and 'Copycat Kakashi,' son of the Silver Fang of Konoha: Sakumo Hatake, will be the man known as the sensei of Team Seven."_

_The Copycat's only visible eye was bulging in horror, as if it was trying to escape its socket. He couldn't believe this was going to happen, though he knew all along that it would one day happen, there was no way he was going to be made the captain of Konoha's next generation of leaders, for indeed, that is what team seven has always been. Mayhap some history is needed here._

_In the beginning there was Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, and Hashirama's brother. During the first mission that they were sided together on, against the clan's that later made up the majority of Konoha's enemies and were already enemies to the Uchiha and Senju both, the three fought together under the code name of Team Seven, and their prowess in battle was unstoppable when combined. The Senju could manipulate the elements of water, earth, and wood with amazing skill and the Uchiha had his eyes which produced the blackest flame the world had ever seen, Amaterasu. And, while the brothers knew how to fight in battle together perfectly, the Uchiha had know his enemies well and could watch their movements and their enemies and could find the perfect place for himself in a fight alongside the brothers without disturbing the flow they had by means of his Eternal Mankyo Sharingan._

_After the formation of the Leaf Hashirama ordered the formation of three man teams under a single sensei. In the end there had been Seven, one under each of the clan heads, the final one, team seven, being the Senju's own brother. This team consisted of Hamura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Sasuke Sarutobi, the once and future Third Hokage of Konoha. All three of whom came into prominence in creating a better Konoha for the future and who's individual skills and accomplishments are told as legends throughout the world._

_In turn Sarutobi trained the three Sannin: Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru. These three would become the prominent experts throughout the shinobi wourld in their respective arts of Sealing, healing, and science. They are renowned as 'The Three Shinobi' as they were titled after the battle with Hanzo of the Salamander: the Great Sage of the Rain during the Second Shinobi War._

_In turn, Jiraiya, who later became the Great Toad Hermit of __Myobokuzan, took a team__ that would be considered the first of the successfully failed Team Sevens, as two of the teammates were killed in their first mission outside of the village, to deliver a missive to the Daimyo of the Earth Country. They were caught in an assassination attempt on the Daimyo by Iwa itself, which succeeded, and in turn actually started the Third Great Shinobi War. Taking his only remaining student, Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya trained the boy, who hated the Hidden Rock, and eventually made a Hokage out of him, but not before he trained the fourth incarnation of Team Seven, and the second generation of the 'Successfully Failed' Team Seven's._

_This team consisted of Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and an orphan girl simply known as Rin. Kakashi Hatake was a rising star of Konoha's, who would eventually surpass his legendary father if his luck held true, until the tragedy at the bridge of M_**__****yakuraku in Grass Country. It was at that battle that, while the tide of the war was changed, Obito Uchiha was killed and Kakashi Hatake recived his Sharingan eye, increasing his resolve and will to train and be stronger. The next tragedy was at Mt. Makazein in the heart of Kumogakure, during the final battle of the Third War, when Rin was killed by the Jinnchuriki of the Eight-Tailed Bijuu, Kirabi Yotsuki. **

**__****Though the battle had proven difficult victory had been immanent, so Kirabi tapped into his Bijuu's power, taming the beast at the same time so it would not attack his home, and fired a powerful blast of chakra at Konoha's remaining Shinobi outside of the village. Rin, as well as several other well known and liked shinobi were caught in this blast, including Dan, Tsunade Senju's lover and fiancée, who managed to strike the great beast with her 'crazy strength' thus removing it from battle to prevent it from attacking again thus destroying the forces and crippling Konoha, and breaking off one of its horns, the father of Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga, leading to the premature ascension of Hiashi to the status of Clan Head, and Danzo Senju, who was injured to the point that ended his career as a ninja and sparked it as a politician and trainer for ANBU. It was after this that Kakashi's growth suddenly stopped, though he was still a legend in all rights and fought many of his most infamous battles. **

**__****The third and final tragedy came when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha and the Fourth died sealing the beast into his own son, Naruto Uzumaki. It was due to the after math of this battle that Kakashi's skill began to, slowly, but surely decrease until the point where he has been removed from the ANBU.**

**__****And now the Hokage was asking him to train the next generation of Konoha's government. "Why?" he uttered quietly, "How? How could you ask this of me? You know as well as I, that I am not fit to lead anyone. I have fallen from grace by letting my friends die in my place; I have failed where even my father did not."**

**"__****Because, Kakashi, you ARE fit to lead." Were the words the Sandaime said as he turned to look at the boy, for a boy he was when compared to the 'Professor,' "You were once the second strongest Shinobi in this village, bested only by your own sensei and on equal terms with the Sannin themselves. You managed to spearhead the assault into Kumogakure, leading an attack force of one-hundred shinobi into the Hidden Cloud against incredible odds, and destroyed the Watch Tower of Jinkourai with one attack. You are the man who led the ANBU to the capture and death of Tenchikaibyaku, the Sandiame Tsuchikage." **

**__****Kakashi hated being reminded of what he no longer was, but the Hokage went on, telling him of all the things he once was, eventually bringing the man to his knees when he mentioned the team that he had failed, tears stinging his eyes. Seeing that the man was finally broken, the Third chose now to start rebuilding him.**

**"__****You, Kakashi, have been holding so much in, never letting any of it out, but I know and will not let the last remnant of Minato's team to be blown away like dust into the winds of time." As he said this he walked behind the silver haired man and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You once told me of your fathers bloodline, one that you had inherited, the 'Gin-choushi' the Silver Vein. It was a secondary reserve of chakra far more potent and powerful than anything normal shinobi had access to. It was constantly growing the more you used it and seemed to affect everything in strange ways, giving way to the legend of the Silver Fang when your father added it to his kodachi. You said, right before the Kyuubi's attack, that you were making progress with the Gin-choushi to help assimilate the Sharingan into your body and make it into a fully functional bloodline. I want you to start training again; start learning to use the Gin-choushi once more, and try to recreate the sharingan fully." **

**__****Having said that he walked to his desk and pulled out a scroll with the crest of the Clan Sarutobi on it, "These are your new orders. You are to train for the next six months under the Inu Squad, after this they will test you and if you pass you will be re-inaugurated into the ranks of the Black ops, back into the Inu squad. While you won't lead them again until you have proven yourself, you will be placed in charge of one of the four man teams. I'm letting you know this because the first assignment you are to receive, if you are accepted, will be on a retrieval mission into Kusa," Kakashi looked up, a gentle fire burning in his eyes, "to retrieve the Shards of the White Light Chakra Sword"**

**__****There was long silence as Kakashi looked at the Hokage with that fire in his eyes, "Hai, Hokage-sama!" and he was gone."**

**_Its OVER! THE FLASHBACK IS OVER!_**

"Alright," he began, "let's get to know each other. I want to know your name, something you like, something you hate, something you strive for, and show us one ability you possess. It could be a jutsu, or a bloodline, anything at all. Here I'll start, My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like sniffing things, I hate banana's, and I strive for… peace and love around the world." Here his eyes were flipped into full eye smiles that creeped the students out, "as for my one ability… hm, I know, I can fold my tongue into a clover." And so he did, though the students just saw a bulge in the man's mask.

Sasuke just looked at the man with his obsidian eyes, head resting on his folded hands, and thought to himself, _'So we have a tree hugging, banana hating, perverted pedophile named Kakashi for our sensei.'_

Sakura actually looked on in hidden awe, _'Hatake? As in Sakumo Hatake of the Silver Sword?'_

Kiba was wide eyed and had his jaw hanging, for he actually knew who their sensei was _'Copycat Kakashi, the two time leader of the Inu Squad, and second in command of the ANBU department is my sensei… FUCK YEAH!'_ then he had a thought and dared a quick glance at Sasuke, one that Kakashi noticed. When the boy looked back he saw the Jounin give him a little wink, chuckling to himself a little.

"Alright, Pinky! You first."

"My name is Sakura Haruno, Kakashi-sensei, and I would appreciate it if you did not call me pinky. I happen to like training in the Sakura style of kenjutsu, and dislike anyone who bears, but does not deserve the sword. I strive to one day be strong enough for my future husband." She said this with only the slightest of blushes on her face, "and as for my ability… this!" she said as she drew her sword and let it break into twenty shards that floated midair, separated slightly. Stabbing the sword forward, Sakura let the sword become whole again. Kakashi gave a small clap, fairly impressed that a girl of her age had progressed that far into the Sakura style.

"Broody! GO!" he said making a swish of his arm and pointing to the heavens. Yeah, the chakra had reached his brain a long time ago.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha, I like nothing, and hate much, and I strive to one day kill a certain man. As for my ability I will show you that once I unlock my sharingan…

Kakashi looked a little bored at this and was heard mumbling out something, "cheater…"

"I guess I'm next!" yelled Kiba from his seat next to Sakura, "My name's Kiba Inuzuka, I like my pal Akamaru here," as he hoisted up the puppy, "I hate flea's. I strive to prove the Inuzuka clan hasn't lost any of its prowess. As for my one ability…" he stopped here because of Sakura's laughing, "What's so funny Haruno?" he said, a slight sneer in his face.

"You, Baka! You want to prove something like that, but the Inuzuka clan has never been important to Konoha, all they do is care for our dogs and sniff on the trails they are given. Whats there to prove?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Kiba was out of his seat and lunging towards the girl, only to be stopped by Kakashi, who grabbed the back of his neck and hair. "Why are you stopping me?! She dares to mock my clan!" he yelled.

Sounding a little whistful, Kakashi pointed over to Sakura, who had her ninja-to drawn and had been ready to run him through the stomach, and said to the boy, "Oh, I know what a mistake she made, however I thought it was more prudent to stop your mistake before it was too late."

Surprisingly it was Sasuke who responded to this, not Sakura, "What mistake? She's right. It was the Senju, Uchiha, Aburame, Hyuga, and Akamichi that formed Konoha as we know it today. The Inuzuka came begging for scraps at the feet of the founders a year later. Their skills aren't even that great, I mean they can smell things… just like the dogs we could get from them, they are useless."

Still holding a snarling Kiba, Kakashi addressed the two students, "Wrong! They are the inspiration and founders of Konoha's ANBU Black Ops. and are the ones who make up a bulk of the Inu Squad and the Gravediggers Unit, or as you know them, the hunter nin. Do you know how effective it is to have a shinobi that can follow a trail with no need to rely on a dog and can then help engage the enemy without having to worry about how the animal will react in battle?" Kiba was glad to hear this coming from his sensei, he sounded so impassioned about this, "Well you better, because if you pass the test tomorrow, then you will have to work with one. You will be team seven if you pass, an assassination and attack squad in the makings… one I know can become legendary if you figure it out."

Kiba just looked up at their teacher and, in time with Sakura who was sheathing her sword, "What test?" and so Kakashi started to explain.

P-E-A-N-U-T-B-U-T-T-E-R-O-N-A-S-P-O-O-N-I-N-A-B-O-O-K-W-H-I-L-E-I-T-E-A-T-S-Y-O-U-R-B-O-O-T

Taking another swipe at the jounin with her bokken, Ino backpedaled as he slowly advanced, _'damn those knives of his, I can't get a good swipe at him! I'm sure that_ _if I knew more of the Sakura style this would be so much easier. Damn you Ume-baita.'_ This was not the first time the girl had cursed Sakura's mother so.

Asuma had told them that, seeing as their fathers had worked together so perfectly, and seeing as they had grown up together, that he would not test them with teamwork as was traditional, but instead see what their personal skills were like in one on one bouts, only requiring them to land a single solid blow on him. Shikamaru had used a lot of quick thinking and strategy to catch Asuma in his shadow imitation jutsu and bring the man's own blades to bear against his neck. Choji had bested the man in a match of pure physical strength by making his arm expand right at the last minute of a point blank punch, so the man couldn't just sidestep it or grab the arm.

For her turn though, Ino was having a very tough time. The man had his knives back and was able to block any of the attacks she sent towards him. To add to that the girl was working off the incomplete basics of a style the man was very familiar with, even if she didn't know it yet. If it weren't for the fact that her bokken was inscribed with seals of strengthening then it probably would have been broken by now, something she was thanking the creator for doing right now.

At that moment, as if to emphasize his superiority over her to a new height, he attacked and when she brought her wooden sword to bear he sliced right through the wood, starting at the tip, then cutting it down two more times.

"That… that shouldn't be possible!" she said falling back a little, dropping the stub that was her weapon, "My bokken is as strong as iron, it had seals for strengthening the wood!"

Taking a deep breath, wishing for a cigirett, the man lifted his right blade to eye level, letting his chakra jut to the length of a full sword, "I got bored of this little game and decided to push just a touch more… this is all you can give? I though Ume-sama's style was stronger than this?" and so he went in for a kick, only to be pushed away by Choji's sudden appearance it the girls side, his enlarged arm in front of her. Next Asuma noticed that he could not move, Shikamaru appearing on the other side, picking up the pieces of the destroyed weapon.

"You know Ino," he said to her, "It has occurred to me, that in this moment you could land a very nice punch to our teachers un protected neck and pass this little test of his."

Ino just looked up at him, a little awe struck, "But, but we were supposed to show our one on one skills… you have him held down and Choji has already taken a blow for me… how can I pass now?"

This time Choji spoke up, "You know, Ino, he said that the only rule to these matches was that you had to win a single blow to him in order to win… not that we couldn't help each other in our endeavors to do so."

From where he stood Asuma laughed a little, "Congratulations… you three pass!" when he felt that he hadn't been released yet he looked up at them for a second, "Um, guys?"

Turning away so he wouldn't see anything Ino did, Choji mimicking him, Shikamaru said to the man, "You did something that even Choji and I would never do: you destroyed her weapon. Sakura and Ino have been very protective of those weapons since they started to train with them; they were gifts from the two rival swords smiths of Iwa. Sakura's bokken, and later her sword, were created by Okazaki Masamune. Ino's bokken was from his rival Sengo Muramasa. By the way, that makes the weapon irreplaceable, as Ino had neither the money to replace it nor does she know where to find Muramasa if she did."

Asuma paled at the thought that he had destroyed something made by Sengo Muramasa's cursed hands, and then paled farther as he saw Ino make several hand seals, ending with her thumbs meeting the fore finger from the opposite hand, "Say cheese Asuma-sensei!"

And he knew no more for several minutes, until he woke to the smell of sweat, beer, iron, and 'sexy' music. Beside him a fat man scratched his bared belly, sweat coated hair glistening all over it, and a set of handcuffs in his other hand. "I'm so glad you decided to go with the torture room, Asuma-chan!"

-O-H-T-H-E-V-I-S-I-O-N-S-T-H-E-Y-L-O-O-K-S-O-P-R-E-T-T-Y

Looking to either side of him he couldn't help but think of his teammates: a killer kunoichi and a dark and quiet boy with dark hair… well it could have been worse, "I could be stuck with the Uchiha." He mumbled quietly.

On his left was Shino, quiet and humble Shino in his light green jacket, who seemed to be getting a good look at Naruto and his getup, though Naruto wasn't sure with the glasses and all. To the right was Hinata, big breasted, bitchy, and scantily clad. This last was what held their teacher's and Hinata's attention.

"I'll ask you one more time." Said Kurenai, glaring at Hinata who sat with her back against a tree, legs crossed provocatively in spite of their sensei, "Change into proper shinobi wear or I will not let you take a single mission. Hiashi-sama would skin me alive if he knew I let you walk around like you are now."

"First thing, you may be my captain, but neither you nor my father have any control over how I dress, secondly, if you would have us as a team then you need me to be on the team, thirdly, if you refuse to let me be on a team because of such petty matters then my clan could easily remove its support from Konoha until the Hokage himself acts on the matter, which you wouldn't like, fourthly," she adjusted her legs so the other was on top, "I go by a simple code, 'to do one thing every day that makes you father ashamed of you.' If I didn't dress like this, then who knows what I would do to my family's name. That is why my father _allows_ me to dress this way. Lastly, I must point out that you wear bandages for you daily outfit. How can you complain about my outfit when all it takes is a single kunai in the right spot to undress you completely?"

At this Kurenai was silent, her eyes wide with shock, awe, and loathing, "Fine, then let's get started. I will tell you all right now that teams are tested to see if they will really become shinobi, their Genin Exam's as they are called, simply getting rid of the truly hopeless. What we look for when we have to test a new batch is for teamwork. I want to see if you three can work together to form cohesive unit. To do that I want you three to attack me, full on. The only way I will pass you is if you three can best me… anything else and I will send you three to the academy!"

All three of the students grinned at this, unnerving the bandaged kunoichi a little. Though, Hinata was the only one of the three to be really happy. Naruto was a little worried on how he would perform, and whether he should use the Oboegan with Hinata around. Shino's grin was out of pure amusement at the thought of having to face a jounin, even a kunoich one. See, I always knew he had a sense of humor.

"Well sensei, we shouldn't delay then, should we?" said Hinata, settling into her Juken stance and activating her Byakugan, the veins practically throbbing with power. Shino removed his twin scythes and dropped down into his own style, summoning his bugs to form a little cloud around him. He decided that if this is what he had to do to pass, then he would not hold back in the slightest… I mean it _was_ the only logical thing to do.

Then there was Naruto. He knew that kunoichi were strong, all he had to do was think of sparring with Yuffie, but he had some reservations on whether he should use the Oboegan and let the team know yet and on his own ability to actually fight. Sure he had fought some in the Otherworld's, but they were only spars against people he had never even needed to worry about hurting, Cloud, Yuffie, Tidus, Vincent.

Before he could even think further though, he realized something was coming towards him… his teacher. Stepping to the side he realized that she had started and chose to attack the distracted one right off the back. "Pay attention when you're in a fight! This is life or death." And she sent a side kick straight at him. Ducking under it he stood and received a punch to the punch to the gut. "Come on and fight! Whats wrong with you, you should have expected me to follow through with my attack." As he recovered she went in for another kick, only for Shino to step in front of him, one scythe catching her leg at the ankle right below the blade.

Pulling her leg back she went for a punch, this time having Hinata coming to the rescue, jumping in under Kurenai's fist and stabbing a chakra coated hand towards the woman's chest. Kurenai spinning to the side and out of harms reach, sending a chop to Hinata as she turned to face them. Using her eyes Hinata could easily see the movements and ducked beneath it. This went on for almost a full minute, with Shino often catching blows for Hinata while the girl ducked and jumped around sending in attacks when she saw an opening, never touching their sensei.

While this was going on Naruto saw stunned at seeing them fight, _**"**_**Kid,** **if you don't get into that fight soon then I will give up on you completely! You can't just watch them fight… HELP THEM!"** at the foxes urging Naruto realized that he had been just watching, so he quickly pulled off the Buster Sword and charged into the fray.

Jumping in he started with a vertical slash going down, similar to one of Cloud's favorite attacks, which his sensei simply side stepped and then leaned back to dodge one of Hinata's attacks, flipping over completely to land a solid kick on the girls jaw and grabbing one of Shino's scythes at the base near his hand as she landed, a quick jab to his stomach to immobilize him for a few seconds.

Jumping away the woman made a few hand signs mid air and landed on one knee, thrusting her hands into the ground when she did so. _Doton: arms of the Earth lord._ What she pulled out were a set of arm guards, four sharp spikes sticking about five inches from the outer sides of each one. The three students just stood there for a second, a few yards between each of them, watching for what their sensei would try and do now. Hinata rubbed her jaw slightly, a gleam in her eye, Shino stood passively, getting his breath back, and Naruto simply pulled the sword back up to rest at the ready.

"**Use the eye's brat! After that little stunt she pulled its clear that she was playing around before and you'll need every advantage you can get."**

Naruto only hesitated a second before he closed his eyes, which were hidden in the shadows of his cloak. Opening them he felt the world all around him. Thus he felt when Hinata briefly glanced towards him, obviously having noticed the change in his eyes.

This was all the moment Kurenai needed, as she rushed towards the girl, swiping at her midsection with the blades of the arm guard. Naruto had felt the killing intent of the woman before she even moved, it had lessened on him and Shino and increased on Hinata. While it wasn't true premonition like the Jedi or the Sharingan, it was enough for Naruto to realize where she would attack. Jumping in front of the woman he planted the Buster sword in front of him like a shield and felt as she altered her course for Shino instead.

The boy in question summoned a group of bugs to fly towards her, only for them to find out this was an illusion, the real one, bracers and all, having jumped above them and did more handsigns, using her, though they didn't know it, only other ninjutsu outside of the basic three and her bracer's. _Katon: dragonic breath_. Sending a broad burst of fire at them, heading to hit Shino and his bugs first.

All three of them moved, Shino turned to get out of the way of the fast moving fire, though he wouldn't make it at this rate, Naruto moved towards the flames trying to get in front of Shino, his arm brace bared in front of him, and Hinata, seeing Naruto's bared sword lifted the thing and placed it in front of her like a shield, as Naruto had.

Seeing that he wouldn't make it Naruto jumped forwards, straight into the flame, hoping that Yuffie was right about this thing absorbing the elements. Luckily for him she WAS right, and most of the flames quickly raced into the bracer and Naruto felt a rush of energy in his body and could practically feel the yellow material that glowed through the bracer.

To say the others were stunned was an understatement. Hinata, who saw everything through her Byakugan was stunned, having barely felt the heat of the fire in her secure spot, Shino stopped counting his hive numbers to actually process what Naruto had done, landing Kurenai had a small smirk, glade that she hadn't actually roasted them, even though she grossly underpowered the attack.

She had thought for little else though as she saw Naruto running back for his sword, throwing that strange shuriken on his back. The through was sloppy beyond belief and Kurenai saw that yes it would fly towards her, if it's edge could fly through a couple inches of earth on the way. But the slash-all shuriken was good like that, by using the materia the Shuriken rode through the earth like a wheel of death, slowly rising to come at the teacher.

Sensing her danger Kurenai waited till the spinning blade was almost upon her and then went to the side, not noticing the blade curve upwards then, for Shino was on her, blades dancing in an all out offensive. _'I guess I should seehow good he is with those things'_ and se she let Shino have his fun while Hinata and Naruto gathered themselves. She _had_ to give them a chance to pass after all.

As Naruto reached for his sword Hinata stepped out from behind it, were he had felt some one was, obviously it had to be her, and grabbed his wrist, "What was that?" she said gesturing to his arm guard, trying to peer into his cloak.

"That," he said, stopping the his giant shuriken with chakra and then grasping onto it with this hand, not even needing to look at it with the Oboegan activated, "was very lucky. Now I believe we need to get back into things, eh?" Pulling his arm free, along with the sword, he turned to look at Shino in his offensive attack and would have rushed in like he was, giant shuriken in his left hand and zanbato in his right, save Hinata's words.

"No, not till I know what your bloodline does." This stopped Naruto cold, he hadn't had time to think about what he would tell people yet. _'Why did she have to do this now?'_ "You don't need to worry about that yet… just save it for later, alright?" Now Shino was going on the defense, he was tiring and apparently Kurenai was done testing his offensive skills.

"No! I will not be denied this!" spat the girl, grabbing onto his shoulder hard, "We need a strategy and with those eyes and sword I might have one, what do they do? Just tell me are they anything like the Sharingan or Byakugan? Their basic function!"

"It's more like the Byakugan!" He said finally, "Except I don't _see_ anything, I feel them. A sixth sense if you will, along with a few smaller seventh and eighth sense's that work around the original, now lets GO!"

With that Naruto ran towards Kurenai and a kneeling Shino, Hinata yelling to him, close behind him, "Fight however you would, juts keep an eye out for Shino and his bugs, I can watch out for anything you might accidentally do with the byakugan."

It was a good idea, as it turned out, with Hinata and him using their doejutsu they worked together beautifully. After Shino had rested up a second, popping a soldier pill in the process, they had begun a three way all out assault. Naruto, with his big ass sword, was the main distraction, as Kurenai had to either dodge those or attempt to block with her arm gaurds, which she learned was risky at best, since the inertia of the weapon would pass on to her, or in layman's term, send her flying. When the woman did get some distance from him though he would throw his shuriken, which she had to dodge or die from. Next was Shino who's scythes could sneak in around Naruto without warning and who's bugs served a two point purpose, one to help him find out where his sensei was when she did a sudden substitution jutsu, and two to attack her, whether it be with pincers and stingers, which were a real nuisance, and to drain her chakra. While he couldn't swarm her like he would have liked, not with the other two there and attacking, he was still able to slow her down a little. Lastly was Hinata, who was supposed to deal the finishing blow, since it would only take one hit with the Juken, while she flirted around, never being touched by either friend or foe alike.

It was no surprise then, in the end, that Hinata managed a quick strike to their sensei's unprotected back, while she dodged between Naruto's sword and one of Shino's scythe, and then blocked the other, forgetting about Hinata for only a brief second. This was all that the kunoichi needed and with a silent tap their sensei fell to the ground wide eyed.

Looking down at her Naruto deactivated his eye's, as did Hinata, and Shino called his bugs to him. They just stood there, not quite believing what happened. The first to speak was Shino, "Nice getup Naruto!" This of course was a very un-Shino like comment, so the other two just started to laugh. When they calmed down a little Shino finished what he was saying, "Not only do you look every part of a shinobi, you are trained as one as well, though I might ask how this is possible? You were the dead last in the academy, in both practical and theoretical application, and I have never seen you so much as pick up a bokken outside of our first year introduction to weaponry lesson. And that's not even mentioning the fact that the gems you have in the weapons and arm guard or the new clothing when you live off of an allowance provided by the Hokage's office."

Naruto stared at the bug-user for a second, "And how would you know something like that?" he asked, while mentally screaming, trying to come up with a plausible lie, "I don't think I have ever told anyone about that… unless you've been spying on me!"

"**Tell them they're family heirlooms! That the Hokage gave them to you after making Genin! You found them, your borrowing them from a friend, anything!"**

"You are not the only orphan in Konoha, Uzumaki-san. The various clans and Hokage's office support an equal number of Konoha's orphans. Since the Hokage takes such an interest in you one would assume… I must ask again," he said, loosening one of his scythes, "While it is not nearly as important where you learned what you know, I in fact congratulate you for training so well and keeping it secret, where did you get the paraphernalia that you now have in your possession?"

Sweating, Naruto quickly, perhaps too quickly, told the boy the first lie that came to mind, the lucky bastard, "They were old family heirlooms! After I made Genin the Hokage gave them to me, that's… that's how I got them overnight!" quickly he wiped his forehead of sweat, hoping the other two's were not suspicious. Looking over he saw Hinata's Byakugan at full blast, while Shino talked with a few bugs.

"You're lying Uzumaki-san. My bugs can pick up on various influxes in your body heat as well as pheromones. Not to mention the fact that you stuttered when it came to the second half of the lie, about the Hokage, as if you had to think about it." The green cloaked genin raised his weapon a little, stepping over their sensei's prone form towards the blond, only to have a feminine hand placed on his shoulder.

"He tells the truth," she said smoothly, "While it may seem like he lies, even my Byakugan says it so, I have proof that supports his claim. Let it be enough for the moment that I say it so."

"And what might this proof of yours be, Hinata-sama?" came the cold response.

Sending a malevolent glance towards the hero of the story, "Why, the fact that he seems to possess a Kekkai Genkai, of course!"

"Indeed?" he asked, looking the blond over once more, "Why is he not registered then? Since the beginning of Konoha every bloodline limit user must register with the Office of the Elders. Either way, as members of the Noble Clans, we have a responsibility to take him into custody, whether it is for theft as I had thought or for being unregistered, as you claim he is."

'_Fuck, I didn't even know people had to register their bloodline here! Why didn't you say anything about that fox!"_

"**Boy, I'm a giant nine-tailed demon fox that lives inside your belly… how am I supposed to know something like that? Do you think I would go around town to town, trying to learn new and exciting things? No, I would go around and eat people, step on people, and generally just kill people. While I was doing this they really didn't think it was prudent to start telling me about their everyday lives and the governing of their villages. Kay!?"**

'Bastard!' Naruto just now realized that the two genin where looking at him expectantly, "Um, can I help you two with anything?"

Rolling her eyes, Hinata raised a hand as if to hit him, "Dumbass! Were you not listening to us, seeing as it does concern whether you are going to be detained and court marshaled?" Rubbing the back of his head she gust sighed in defeat and repeated what they said. "Shino and I have decided to solve this the Shinobi way. Your give us information, such as details on your bloodline and your weapons, the such, and we will forget that your ass is not registered with the elders like it's supposed to be. Now, spill it!"

Looking between the two of them he saw no way out, "We better sit down," he said, plopping to the ground, "This could take a while." And they sat, all of them, around the unconscious body of Kurenai.

And so he started, telling them first about his bloodline, so the kyuubi might come up with a decent lie to tell them and others. When he showed them the eye's he was amazed to find that they contained two triangles for the iris now, with the outline of a third one there, though not whole yet. How he could sense emotions and killing intent, as well as the basic abilities to feel anything around him, if still very vaguely, as he could tell if something was humanoid, but not if they were male, female, giant ape, mime, who they were or what the humanoid shaped being thing was doing at all, for all of those he needed to rely his actual eyesight. Most objects were beyond his ability to tell apart unless he was able to recognize the patterns in how they vaguely looked to other things, very hard for him to do.

Next was the arm brace which he told them would absorb four elements, "Which ones would those be?" asked a curious Aburame.

Placing his hand under his head in a thinking pose Naruto stopped for a second… "Not a clue!" he said finally, earning a smack on the back of the head from Hinata, "Hey, I've only had it for one day," he said honestly, he had indeed only gotten it the day before from his girlfriend… _'I wonder if she knows where I am?'_ he thought to himself.

s-a-s-a-s-a-s-a-samual--

On the wooden floor of a certain blonds house a young girl sneezed while she slept, her eyes fluttering open then closing again, "fried chicken." She murmured lightly to no one in particular.

-k-f-c-d-o-e-s-n-'-t-l-i-k-e-t-h-e-k-i-n-t-h-e-i-r-n-a-m-e-

"I would have assumed you knew you wouldn't be roasted alive when you jumped into the fire earlier." Said Shino, as he watched Naruto getting beat up by Hinata, for jumping into the attack earlier, muttering about him being just like every other dumb as shinobi out there. Shino went on, "Not knowing what your own weapons and armor do is just as dangerous as coming into a fight with only your fist and the cloth on your back; all the enemy needs to do then is pull out a kunai and you are at the disadvantage. If fire had not been one of the four elements you may well have died. Never try to absorb another element like that unless your sure you can take it on."

Next he went on to explain the material a little better. Yes they looked beautiful, but when you added chakra the right way they would produce pre rendered jutsu; or at least that's how he understood the concept. Once again he did not know what they all did, and would not let them take any of the orbs out of their proper place's so they might examine them. He did tell them what the slash all did, for instance, and how of the purple gems in the bracer should let him breath underwater.

Hinata decided she would test that one when their teacher finally woke up, _'I'll be damned, I hit her in the chakra point above the seventh disk, she should be out for a few hours, not fourty minutes'_ looking over at Shino she got a node of the head, "Why thank you Naruto, that was very enlightening."

Getting her baring the new jounin just stared ahead for a second, wondering why Anko had left her here with a couple of kids, _'wait, that's right… I'm their sensei! Anko and I went drinking last Tuesday… fuck.'_ "You know," she said to them, "If you had simply managed to hit me real good I would have passed you three. As it is you should be happy, not many can manage to best a jounin." This got a bunch of smiles, "Though you should know that I did not use my specialty against you three, nor did I ever strike out at you more than necessary, and the fact that other than ninjutsu, my weakest area is taijutsu."

The smiles were gone now, "Your trying to tell me that you made arm bracers out of solid earth that can block my sword," started Naruto.

"Helps my taijutsu."

"And breathed out a giant ass flame thrower,"

"Usually my last resort that I underpowered for you guys."

"And managed to avoid being hit at all till the end, yet those are your weak points?... How fucked up is that?"

Shino laughed, Hinata snorted, Kurenai grinned, Naruto cried and team Kurenai was formed.

**_-d-s-a-d_**

Sasuke Uchiha walked home, into the deserted Uchiha district, practically a village within the village. He had received an offer for a foreign clan to buy it off of him some years back, Orashi he believed they were called, but he just couldn't. This was the land of his family, where they had toiled and sowed the land to provide for them and make a life worth living for their children. His home, the one he and his family had shared when they still walked among the living, was a big building, three stories, and he wished he had the will power to leave the building behind.

Walking inside he removed his sandals, proceeding into the room where his mother and father had met their end. On one side of the room was a small shrine he had made towards the two. He always made sure to say pray before he left and when he arrived, lighting incenses and giving tribute to them on the holidays and their anniversaries. This shrine was probably the reason why Sasuke was so like he was: he refused to let go of the past.

Today there was something different though, as he knelt down before his mother and fathers picture. There was a letter there. Gingerly picking it up, noticing the stranger who had placed it there also made an offering of several flowers and berries, '_mothers favorites'_ he thought silently to himself.

Opening the note he read, eyes widening, a smile plying on to his face. The letter told him that the night his parents did he was given the power to kill Itachi Uchiha, that he had, that night, awaken the sharingan. He was not told this of course, but the letter said that if he asked to see his medical records from that night, as the writer had managed, he would see that the hospital had noted this down but said nothing of it due to him being an Uchiha: it seemed like common sense to him that an Uchiha would have a Sharingan. Lastly it told him that with this knowledge in hand he could reawaken it, all he needed to do was try and place chakra into his eyes in the right formation, eventually he would see the change.

Sasuke was overwhelmed for a second at the implications, _'I could have been training with it for years already! I very well might have had it mastered before I graduated! Who ever wrote me this just found out recently and knew to tell me… the WRITER!'_

Quickly he looked for a signature, only finding addressed as being from: _Youngest of your Elder's._

Did one of the elders write this letter to him? They did seem to favor him, especially the Counsel… maybe.

Sending chakra to his eyes he bent down onto all four, "Mother… Father… Revenge," and he looked up, "I will bring about your revenge with these eye's" a single tomoe in each of his blood red eyes.

_**-g-r-v-g-s-**_

The next morning Naruto woke up, his girlfriend in his arms, this time on their cot lucky enough. He liked living with Yuffie, she was spunky, and liked making out. Oh nothing 'serious' happened, but it was a very pleasant night none the less. Besides, Naruto wasn't quite… equipped for that yet, he just started puberty a few month prior and the surefire signs weren't up yet.

Yawning he sat on the edge of the bed and looked the girl with short cropped hair, her eye's fluttering open at his movement, "Morning!" she said quietly, sitting up behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck, which he nuzzled into, "So, what we doing today?"

"Well I have to meet with my team, then we should probably start practicing on how to use materia. The Slash-all works fine, but I have so much other things, not to mention the fact that I need to start training my Refiner now… I think. I really don't know how that will work."

Smirking, Yuffie stood up and went to through her shorts on, having slept in her tee-shirt and undies, "Well I know one thing we need to do."

"What's that?" asked Naruto, memorized by the body his girlfriend had.

Turning to him she tilted her head to the side and put on the biggest smile ever, "SHOPPING!"

**-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z**

That day Naruto was introduced to the D-rank mission. Team Kurenai had cut the lawn of every house in the Uchiha district, the earlier one's involving weeding the entire Hyuga Comlex's Botanical Garden, helping Shikamaru's mother clear out a dozen tree's for their dear to graze in, taken said wood then to Yamanaka's Flower shop where whey would sell it, and then of course watching his shop while he went to place an order for three dozen new flowers. After that he told them he would request them when they got the new shipment in.

The group found out that they would be doing this for the next who knows how long. As they walked towards the Hokage's tower they saw a girl waving at them: Yuffie. When they got there he introduced the team to her, getting a nod from Shino, a smile from Kurenai, and a… well, what went on between Hinata and Yuffie was more of a standoff, the likes of which are often seen on "Konoha's Most Wanted" and "The Konoha Report." Not pretty to say the least.

Walking inside the Tower the group came across another team, Team Kakashi, "I am amazed," started Kurenai, "You actually passed a team. That has got to be the first out of like thirty teams you managed to pass." The Uchiha, Haruno, and Inuzuka couldn't look prouder.

"Yup, and I got to say, I think my little orange book will come in handy more than even I thought!" his eyes gleaming with mirth, a smile hidden behind his mask. This, of course, led to his fellow jounin smacking her forehead. Placing his hands on Sasuke's shoulders, steering him towards a section of the tower named 'General Registrations' "Now if you don't mind, I need to get this rabid dog registered with the Elder's office. Seems like someone managed to open his eye's a little."

As they disappeared into the section of the Tower Naruto asked, "Wonder what he meant by that?"

"The Uchiha has awoken his Sharingan." Was Shino's cold response, quickly followed by Hinata.

"Anyone who holds a bloodline must register with the Elders, as we told you yesterday." Shino made a shift in his posture, the only sign that he was still uncomfortable with Naruto's situation, "I myself have been registered since I was three, and Shino here since he was five. Most every Akamichi registers at birth, since their natural build makes them the only ones able to use their body jutsu's."

Naruto looked at Shino, eye's wide beneath his hood, "I didn't know your bugs counted as a bloodline?"

Nodding the Aburame said slowly, "It is not so much the bugs as that few among my clan possess the proper physical setup to carry a host within our bodies, others are able to summon them with a contract, and a large majority possess the ability to talk with the insects, myself and my father among them. It is even said, though I have yet to find proof of it either way that we can become the bug's ourselves. This is likely a story based on our ability to perform clone and substitution jutsu's with the bugs."

The blond boy was going to ask more questions but was drawn away by his sensei's voice, "Come on, it's Dango Night and Anko doesn't like to wait!" and so the five shinobi entered the Hokage's office to get their pay, only for Yuffie to be kicked back out by Kurenai and the nice ANBU on guard duty who stood in front of the door. Once all the formalities were over with Sarutobi dismissed the others, motioning for Naruto to stay.

Though he didn't like it he had a job to do at this second, "Naruto, your rent is due on the fifteenth of every month, you can start paying through the Hokage's tower as of this month. You will be required to pay seven hundred silver marks a month to cover your rent and utilities, anything else is extra that is coming out of your pocket."

Eye twitching, the blond just kinda stared at the Hokage for a second. In the most jovial voice ever, his face never changing, he yelled, "Nice to see you too jiji! I'm doing great, thanks for asking! No, really, I'm fine!" then, lowering his hood he said in a very serious voice, "What is this shit all about? The Tower pays for all of this stuff, until I come of age, right?"

Sighing, he resigned himself to explaining everything out for the boy, "Naruto, when you made the rank of Genin you entered adulthood in the eyes of the law. As of yesterday you came of the legal age to drink, own land, get married, open a business, and hold legal contracts such as the one for leasing an apartment. Being such the Hokage's Tower will not provide for you anymore, since you are now officially working for it, and we provide you with pay."

Opening his wallet Naruto took stock of how much money he had made today, estimating how many days it would require him to work in order to get enough money for his rent and still support his ramen addiction, kunai and shuriken expenses, have clothing repaired… well in his case buy the material to repair it himself- he was quite practiced with the string and needle. _'Oh wait, I have to provide for Yuffie too now… and we're supposed to go shopping! Aw SHIT! May the Flying Spaghetti Monster's Noodly Appendages smite you Hokage-Jiji!' _"At this rate I won't have any money left over at all! I mean I barely made a gold mark today, and the jobs I had to do to get it were NOT worth the amount of money I made! What are me and Yuffie supposed to do?"

"Yuffie?" asked the Hokage, arching an eyebrow. "Ah, yes, the young girl who was clinging onto you as you walked in, that must be her. She is living with you now?" concern etching into his voice, Naruto was visibly sweating, stuttering out excuses, "I know you think you're an adult Naruto, and in the eyes of the law you are, but don't you think it's a little soon to be dating someone older than you, and having her move in? This actually brings me to the next thing I wanted to ask you. Where did you get the clothing you're wearing now, and the weapons… and what is that wrapped around your arm… its practically _covered_ in gems!" Standing up he began to walk towards the boy, ready to take the objects away and find who they belonged to.

Backing up quickly Naruto pulled the giant shuriken loose, "They're mine Jiji! Yuffie gave them to me as presents!" he yelled at the man, who stopped in awe that the boy before him would actually raise a weapon to him, let alone his voice, "You can even bring her in here right now and ask her, she gave them to me or paid for them herself, even the robes and cloak!" this was actually all true. When they were in Wutai Naruto had no money so Yuffie, who was very wealthy from her traveling days, paid for it all. Now their positions were mostly reversed, Naruto was far from rich, and he wanted to provide for her as she did for him.

Sighing the old man turned around and looked at the pictures hanging on the wall behind his desk, those of the Hokage's before him, "Naruto… please leave. I will see you tomorrow when you get your missions." Naruto scowled but put his weapon back and started to leave, "and Naruto… from now on I expect a certain amount of respect due to my office. By raising your weapon to me you have shown that you do not respect of trust me as you once did. Until you start to trust me again I cannot allow you to act so belligerent towards me. If you had trusted me enough I would have made sure that the property is not stolen and gave it back."

And with that Naruto left, storming past Yuffie as she followed along asking him what happened.

"I do not like doing this Naruto, but you must trust me. I will miss you, but I know we can be like we once were again."

At a quiet knocking Sarutobi beckoned in his guest Iruka, "Hokage-sama. I have brought some news concerning Naruto Uzumaki." Why was he not surprised, "When I saw him with new clothing and some… pricey looking objects I decided to send an ANBU to question the various traders and shop owners in the village proper and the outskirts. I am relieved to learn that nothing matching the objects he carried had been stolen from anyone, though a few did mention commissioning a few objects similar to the descriptions, but they wouldn't confide in the ANBU the names of who they were for."

The Hokage's stomach felt like ice… no ice would be to warm to describe this feeling.

**--so-i-went-to-dunkin-doughnut-bought-a-doughnut-and-they-gave-me-a-recipt-for-a-doughnut**

**--When-am-i-ever-going-to-need-to-prove-i-bought-a-doughnut? --**

As the Naruto stormed out of the Tower his thoughts were in turmoil, he was an adult now, he had to support himself and Yuffie, he had to pay rent, he had lost the trust of Jiji… this last hurt more than anyone would ever know. To lose one of the few bonds he had, and the oldest one at that, hurt more than being hated ever did.

As he came back to himself the blond boy realized he was on his knees, Yuffie's arm draped around his shoulders as he told her what had happened. "Guess we won't be shopping for a little while, huh?" he had been looking forward to it too.

As Yuffie's evil smirk spread across her face she reached into one of her pouches and pulled something out, "You forget," she started holding the object up, "I carry the universal currency." A shining blue orb. "Materia!"

**_-c-ha-r-g-e-i-t-!-_**

Sitting at the counter to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, Ino was… upset. Only upset since she had gotten her revenge against the black haired sensei of hers. Her bokken was broke, her weapon of choice gone.

Well actually it had never been her weapon of choice, now that she thought about it, she had always dreamt of a real sword, creating or discovering her own style, being like Ume-baita. She used the word so because of what had happened between the two.

Ume had been teaching the two girls the basics of the Sakura style, a very difficult style that needed control over self and control over your weapon as a separate entity, while at the same time treating it as if it were part of yourself. Ino had in fact been excelling at this and been farther ahead of Sakura in the basic kata's they had been taught, most likely due to her clan training. Then out of nowhere she tells the girls to stop and go eat lunch. When they returned Ume had told Ino that she could no longer practice with them, that from here on out it was considered clan training, and that she refused to give away her secrets.

The woman had given her the bokken then, as a gift for helping Sakura get serious about training and as a bribe, though she never came out and said it, so she would never teach the little she knew of the style to anyone else. It was, she knew, the inferior of the two Ume had been given, but she had used it as her own, training with Sakura, and bastardizing the little she knew of the style so she could get stronger. It was funny, she would never be able to use the Sakura style as her own, yet she probably knew more about it than any other person outside of the Haruno family, due to her training with the two pink haired women.

When Sakura's sword was being forged Ino had asked her father after one, only to be denied. He claimed that she should be content with the Yamanaka clan techniques as they would be best for kunoichi and missions of the type she would take one day: breaking and entering, abduction, infiltration, information gathering, and even assassination. She had yet to be taught a single jutsu that could be effectively used in combat.

Our green eyed beauty was thrown from her thoughts by the sound of the front door opening, the bell jingling, "Welcome to Yamana- Oh, it's just you sensei. What can I help you with, usually its only kunoichi who dare step into this shop… well them and the Akamichi. By the way obey the sign." This last pointing to a 'NO SMOKING' sign on the door her sensei was only half through

Taking a final drag on his cigarette Asuma tossed the butt out the door and walked all the way in, adjusting the cloth covered parcel in his hands. Ino just now noticed that, a long thin object, wrapped in a cloth of various shades of purple. She had seen something like this years ago…

"Ino, Shikamaru and Choji told me about that bokken, who made it, and what it meant to you. I really hadn't known. In return I bring you two gifts; the first a weapon and the second a… hint."

Unraveling the weapon in his hands produced a kodachi, its sheath a deep shade of purple. Pulling the weapon free from its sheath she saw the weapon, and a fin weapon it was, was made of the same black material as Asuma's trench knives. It must have cost him a gold plate to have it made so soon.

"Five actually," He said, and she realized she had spoken her thoughts, "and I had it commissioned ten years ago, though I never paid for it until today. I was young and had just bought my knives, didn't realize that this metal was so special, and decided to have a longer weapon made to help me out in battle. Before it was finished, though, I had discovered the use of the metal, the ability to convert elemental chakra into a useful form, and had joined the Guardians. I had forgot the sword altogether. I had been going to have a sword made for you but to my surprise the man had never sold the piece, saying that no one wanted such a heavy weapon but me."

As she took the weapon into her own hands she realized what he meant; it was probably three times as heavy as a sword the same size. _'It's the density of the metal.'_ she thought immediately, correctly, _'My bokken had density seals on it to prepare me for the weight of an actual sword, but this is going to take some training to get used to. It should help me work out though and when I swing it it'll have more weight behind the blow, more bang for my buck.'_

"And as for my hint, I'm going to need you to channel some chakra into this card." He said, handing her a think yet stiff piece of paper.

**--the Time's reports that sixty three percent of American families are dysfunctional… my god… we're the majority!--**

It was that old time scene, a rugged bar, with men and women who had done more killing than whole armies sitting around rough wooden tables, a solid wood counter with a bearded man behind it cleaning out the bottom of a glass mug, placing it with the others, on the wall behind him was every kind of wine, whiskey, brandy, vodka, saki, and any other alcohol you could name or find under the elemental sun's. This man's patrons made sure he had anything a customer could want, for he served societies unrecognized heroes.

At one table, heeling stud, sat a man and two women playing a game of cards, the first in ANBU armor, no mask save the one he always wore over the bottom of his face, the next a woman in a brown trench coat, fish netting and a matching kaki tang top and short skirt, which was very short and had the optional utility belt sewn into it. The last would probably be considered the most beautiful woman in Konoha by many men, with her red eyes and what seemed like a dress made entirely out of a single strip of cloth. It wasn't, it was actually a strip of sealing paper around a plain white dress the same length, she had been trying to store chakra into a multitude of seals on the paper, but with her limited knowledge of seals she hadn't succeeded, but loved the way the outfit looked and HAD managed to seal her basic kunai and shuriken sets inside the paper at the hips.

As they sat there they quietly played, occasionally hitting the table or motioning with their hands on what they would do, throwing in a random copper mark to raise or throw down their cards to fold. Finally he walked in, the black haired jounin, a thick beard and sideburns, wearing traditional jounin attire, smoking a cigarette. Sitting down he waited for them to deal him in before starting the meeting. As per the agreement made between the four when they decided to get together, no actual techniques or use of weapons would be named.

"They did good on my part, Shikamaru is a fucking genius, Choji ain't too shabby, he was the only one to actually hit me on my own terms, Shikamaru on a close second. By the time I got to Ino I was wondering if they would even need to jump in and act like a team, but they did." Taking a long drag on his smoke he went on, "I gave her a little present today, something more befitting a shinobi than that stick she had… even if it was made by… him."

Kurenai laughed at that, and started telling them about her teams test, "They did great, once they got there. I had been worried because of some of the reports from the academy but they did good in the end. Uzumaki knows how to use the weapon he carries around, which is a relief, since I don't know what I would do with a delusional genin, and his other armament were more than just show. Shino bought time for the other two when they came up with a good plan, and when all three attacked they… they beat me at my own game." This time they all laughed, "If it weren't for that damn Juken nothing would have happened!" she said indignantly.

Next was Kakashi, hiding behind his cards as he took a bite of dango, "My team shouldn't have passed at all," he started, knowing only one man had actually failed one of the three chosen teams for the rank of genin. Ironically this opened the way for team Ino-Shika-Cho to become a team, who worked together so perfectly that they had passed despite their senesei trying to fail them for not being one of the three teams.

"The Inuzuka tried to get the other two to work with him at first, but gave up too soon for me to even try and pass them. The Uchiha just watched me for a while and when he did strike, he had his Sharingan active, most likely using it for the first time in battle. And while good he was nowhere near Jounin level, though he might give some Chuunin a run for their money. The Haruno girl was almost the saving grace then, when she attacked with her mother's style, and cut the bells free; I of course let them fall, what else could I do? With the bells down they could have gotten them, but she was so intent on fighting that she ignored them to help Sasuke in his losing battle against me. If it weren't for the dog boy getting them then they _would_ have failed. I didn't even wait for them to see would get them, those three might have come to blows over it. I took the excuse and passed them." All the others found his story quite amusing. The team almost seemed hopeless, considering they would be leading the nation in a decade or two.

"Come on Anko, let's hear how you killed your team." Nudged Kurenai knowingly.

Shrugging the woman put down her cards and stood up, "I sent them to Ibiki for an interrogation session. If they could take the heat until I got back, and no one told him anything useful, then I would make them into genin… though if they CAN I may make them into jounin by this time tomorrow." With a grin she left her pale face companions.

**--I am Anti-dad. The Most Negative super hero EVER!--**

As Naruto and the hyperactive Kunochi he loved entered the jewelers they couldn't help but note this was a store for the finest and rarest of pieces. As they walked up to the counter they could see the man ant the counter, a tall thin man rich red robes with a long grey mustache and salt'n'pepper hair back into a pony that went down to his waist, sneer silently then quirk his eye, as if debating whether to throw Naruto out or not. The prospect of money won.

"Welcome to Shin's Fine Jewelry, curator to the vaults of the Daimyo himself, I am Lord Shin, how might I be of service to you today?" Pulling off her two pouched, which Naruto was shocked to find carried _only_ material, she opened the top of one of them and let Shin look in, enjoying the sight of his eyes pop out of his head. Reaching into the bag slowly he raised his head, hand stopped on the edge of one of the gems, "May I?" at her nod she pulled up a blue orb, the sparkle of a mastered 'all' materia deep within the gem. The man's eye's clearly in awe of what he was seeing.

"I will offer you eight- no ten! Ten gold plates for this gem alone and the same for any others you have like it! You have other colors, let me see please!?" judging by the drooling of Naruto's mouth that was a lot of money. Chosing carefully, so nothing too strong got out, she pulled free a dozen mastered materia's.

Pulling out a handful of the others the man was soon satisfied, and there were more were these had come from. Right now he had a contract from the fire lord himself, to create necklace of the finest quality for his wife, worth one-hundred thick gold plates if the man is pleased, in addition to the cost of the materials he used. With the price he was offering these kids there was no way the Daimyo would think he used anything BUT the best. In the end he chose three blue stones, two purple, and three green. As the pair left, taking a check signed by the fifth richest man in the Fire Country, they never heard the sound as a single red orb fell to the carpeted floor.

Mr. Shin never missed a thing though.

"Maybe I should make a little present for the Fire Lords cat as well, one of the green and one blue. I can always buy more from those two treasure troves. She had to of had a hundred more of these little things in there." And he picked up the red orb, deciding to use it as the centerpiece for the Daimyo's commissioned jewelry, so the kids couldn't try and trace it back to him.

--yuck-fou-fother-yucker—

As Cloud Strife and Vincent looked down at Wutai from the top of the mountain they hoped they would survive this. Transforming, Vincent became Chaos… and Chaos become something else. The man had learned in his long years to combine his four forms, become one being. It was the secret power of Chaos… it would have been much more useful last year when fighting a certain crazy sword's man who's name I can't spell. His size was that of Gigas, he had horns and orange fur going down his back like the behemoth he now was, fire raging in his eyes and mouth.

Pointing forward, a ball of energy shot forth from his hand, and slowly expanded, a black nothingness in front of them. Then, invoking a name, the pair watched as the scene changed, and before them stood a land unlike any other. Before them was the Calm Lands…

"Cid! Get the fleet in the air, we think we know where Naruto took her, Vince is going to expand the portal as far as possible!" Indeed, behind the pair was a fleet of aircrafts, modeled off the Highwind and a perfected with each prospective model made. Fifty ships were ready to journey to this land.

Stepping through the portal, as Vincent stood there trying to expand it as far as he could get it, "YUFFIE! YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!" Naruto Uzumaki had kidnapped Yuffie Kisaragi… and they would be damned if he would get away with it… even if they had to leave their own world to get her back.

--BUFU… you mean FUBU right? No BUFU-- By Us Fuck U

Ok, so some may be upset by whats in here... tough cookies, eh? Complain if you like, say nothing if you like, review please. I do say I like it when I get some meat in my reviews though... something good for me to read.


	4. Learning in style

Thanl you for waiting, it has been many months, sever hospital visits, two drafts through because i am an idiot and don't like typing the same thing twice, but at last she is here at and astounding 20412 words: Chapteeeerrr four!

Uzumaki Naruto: Race to Kamikage

* * *

Bowing low, Lord Shin entered the great hall of the Fire Lord, the great Daimyo of the Land of Fire. A weak man, from a powerful line. A line that, once upon a time, people would never cross out of fear for the retribution taken upon them and their families. This man's grandfather established the borders of the nation and formed the pact with the Senju and their allies. His father was the one who expanded their borders to their current places, during the negotiations from the Shinobi Wars. His brother, who killed their father for his position, had had a reputation for being a powerful warrior, on the level of a jounin, before he himself was killed by one of the twelve guards he gathered to himself, nearly six years ago.

Now this man, this 'fire lord,' sits here, on a raised platform, and is known for politicking… and he is less for it. Sitting in his palace, eating of the finest foods, spending money he collects, though truly doesn't _earn_, on baubles and petty trinkets for his wife, much to Lord Shin's great joy. Shin had found the Daimyo to be quite generous in his patronage, and Shin never missed an opportunity.

Standing before the large man who was king of this hall, Shin motioned one of his servants forward, the young boy carrying a pillow, a monstrosity of a necklace sitting on top of it. Gentle with his touch, Shin picked it up and went to one knee, propping the necklace for the Daimyo to inspect.

A gaudy thing, with a woven chain of gold and silver, studded to death with opals and rubies and diamonds and garnets. On the lower half of the necklace, more than halfway encased in gold, were seven orbs of perfect shape, color, and sheer brilliance. At the ends were the two purple materia, one yelling of stamina and endurance, the other of pure chakra, next to those were green orbs, flickering with an otherworldly light, next there were two of the blue gems that Shin had first laid eyes on… perfect in every way. Lastly, in the center of the necklace was a single red materia, screaming of rage and power. It was this last that caught the Daimyo's eye… such beauty.

To Shin though, the fire lord was playing with his emotions. First a critical look at the other orbs, then an awe struck face as he stared at the red one, then the man turned his back to Shin, making him believe it unfit. Then, when he went to open his mouth in apology the fool tells him that his banker will send him his gold in a month, but he said it in a voice filled with scorn and hate! _'Just make up your mind, give me something! Do you like it or not?' _"Very well my lord… And, and may I also present you with a gift to your lady-wife." He said holding up a small collar, two orbs, one green and one blue, on either side of it. Waving his hand a servant went and took the thing from Shin and went to find the demonic little kitty.

'_What disrespect! He never even turned to face me when being presented with a gift!'_ and so, in a mood, Shin left the great hall, never to be seen again, not knowing it was the sheer brilliance and beauty of his work that had captivated the mind of the fire lord, made him a slave to its power.

**---beans--- Microsoft word said 'beans' was used in an improper fashion when I typed it in like that, yet making it capitalized would make it all better. ----beans---**

In an empty field north of Konoha, perhaps ten miles or so, Naruto stood alone in his Jedi attire, sans the over cloak, which rested upon his erect sword, standing in the ground about ten yards away. In his hands was the perfect green shape of materia, out in front of him as he focused on the orb and what he had been told of materia by a certain brunette kunoichi.

'_There is only you, chakra, and the materia. Without you there can be no chakra, without the chakra the materia is useless, and without the materia your chakra takes no shape.'_ This wasn't completely true, with ninjutsu as proof, yet materia acted as a tool. When you pushed the chakra through the materia it gives chakra shape, form, and substance; no chakra control required beyond pushing chakra through it… sorta, _'To activate the power within materia you must push your chakra through the materia, with each materia requiring a different 'key' to its 'lock,' just pushing the chakra isn't nearly enough, you must do it in a certain pattern that it unique to each different type of materia. You could find the pattern for Fire materia and pick up any other Fire materia in the world and use it. But pick up an ice materia and you must find the key first. Contain is a different type of materia, because to activate its powers you must have the 'key' for each of its different abilities. Freeze, Break, Tornado, and Flare. I already found the keys for three of them, and Yuffie was right, they are pretty easy to remember once you use them, but I still need to get the last one… Flare… flare… you, chakra, and materia… body, chakra, materia… flare…' _"FLARE!" and with that he threw his hands forward, releasing the brilliant ball of a bright red flames, shockwaves of blue towards the bottom, making a huge explosion in the field.

He was proud of that big ball of fire!

For the past week Naruto had hardly any time for materia training. He was so caught up in team training, which he couldn't show everything in, spending time with Yuffie, which was usually a non- training affair, avoiding his teammates, who seemed to think that keeping his secret meant they should be privy to all of his secrets, even if HE said otherwise. Add kenjutsu, doejutsu, and shuriken training on top of all that, not to mention the missions… Community service was meant as punishment for minor offenses or volunteer work; not something you got paid for. In his eyes D rank missions were meant for academy students get ready for teams, not genin who had gone head to head with a jounin, even if they didn't know she was one of the, if not the weakest (physically and ninjutsu wise) jounin out there, and won. Sure Kurenai tried to make the missions into exercises, but Tora wasn't a missing-nin, summons from the elders weren't treaties, and gardening… Kurenai didn't even TRY to lie about that one! It wasn't like they would learn about different plants, they just had to pull the weeds! HONESTLY! He had started just sending clones to do those jobs, like he was now, even though he still remembered the boring monotonous jobs afterword's… something about that tickled his brains… Why would he…

Before he could finish that thought the blond baka felt something land on his neck lightly. Stiffening like a rock, Naruto moved his eyes down, seeing the brown metal and materia of the Composer, "Yuffie, when'd you get he- WWAAHH!" and he was off, her foot sending his ass flying about ten feet.

"About the same time you pulled off the spell." She said, staring into the Contain materia she pilfered off his unwitting hands, "Nice job by the way." The green glow practically hypnotizing her.

Getting up, while rubbing his rear end, he yelled back at her, "That's Jutsu; we're not in Wutai anymore! And not magic, Chakra!" walking over to her, as she placed the orb back into his sword where it belonged, he stated to throw his cloak back on, activating the Oboegan while he was at it… no more surprise attacks.

"Spell, Jutsu, magic, chakra, materia, hand signs… it's all just a means to an end. I thought my world and powers were unique, but it's all the same in the end… Looks like you finally got the hang of the materia… Contain is one of the more difficult ones to use, even if it's not as powerful as Ultima, so you should be able to use materia pretty easy after this, just work on your speed and timing, you should be good after that. Remember what I told you, if you time up your attacks with release of your materia then you should be able to release a magic attack at the same time as you strike physically… just wish we had figured that out during the meteor crisis." She had frown on her face now, as she slowly began to sit on the grass next to Naruto, who was leaned against his sword, upper half of his face covered by the cloak. Naruto could Feel the frustration when she said that.

Once they were settled in Yuffie pulled out a few materia, yellows, purples, and a single red one. With these ones out she began her explanation of materia and what Naruto's would do. "These," she began, picking up two of the purple orbs, "Are HP Plus and MP Plus, a matching pair of automatic materia. When they are equipped onto you they will grant you a few benefits. The MP Plus will give you a boost in your Magi- CHAKRA levels, letting you do more with whatever chakra you got. HP Plus basically toughens up your body, you can take more of a hit, feel less pain, bones break less and skin is harder to cut. I suppose that it's just your chakra forcing the body to resisting attacks and the stronger your chakra the more resistance it has. Anyway, they work automatically because they require so little chakra that you simply need to have them on your person and the excess chakra from your body will activate them. Likewise, though, you really can't force more chakra into them to get a better effect. For that you would either need more of them on you or they will need to be mastered. I always keep one or two on me at any given time, they're that invaluable."

Looking down at the three purple materia in the silvery bracer he realized that she must have put one of each in, or else she wouldn't be talking about them… had he noticed anything different? A though suddenly occurred to him though, as he looked into her materia bag, "Um, Yuffie, you walk around all day with those pouches full of materia, right? So can you use any of them at any given time?" the bottom half of his face had a questioning look to it, as he pondered at this.

With a sigh the kunoichi put a hand through her short cropped hair, "Ya know, sometimes I forget you weren't raised on this stuff around you all the time."

"Well you didn't grow up with jutsu and chakra! The concepts, if not the ends, are as far apart as possible. We both make mistakes when it comes to this stuff. It's completely fine."

Looking over at him, smiling at the fact that he could understand her, "No, I couldn't. You see materia has the peculiar quality of being useless when they are touching one another. However, if two of different colors are just very close to one another they can be combined to alter the effects, such as All materia or double summon. You couldn't though, mix two summons or two magic's, or a magic and a summon." Next she reached over and grabbed his left arm, pointing to the purple orb farthest to away from his hand, "This is Underwater Materia, another automatic materia, this one letting you- get this- breath underwater. This was part of the reason your bracer doesn't absorb water elements; if you have this then water really has no effect on you." she had obviously never heard of crushing force, "The red one here," she said pointing at the only red orb, the last materia before the bracer ended with his hand, "is a summons. Now I know I've told you about them, and they are useful, but you don't want to overuse them. They cost a lot of magic to pull out and they attack a large area, meaning that unless you have a small party you're working with, they're going to attack friends and foe alike. Most of the time, to avoid friendly fire, we would just summon them for quick attacks and dismiss them, that way the enemy cant attack them back, but they can be called and kept in a battle as long as you have magic."

Looking at the materia in confusion he had to ask, "What does it summon?"

"Well… I'm not telling!" Was her response, grinning like a fiend, "Just make sure there isn't anyone in the way of your enemy and no one near him, everything should be fine. If you need to really catch up to an opponent, facing a large enemy, or are way too overpower, I would suggest using this one, but other than that you really shouldn't call him out too much." Naruto just shook his head. "Now the next type of materia is yellow 'command' materia, ones that will… augment your capabilities, giving you, not necessarily offensive, abilities. While you can always create a giant fireball with Fire materia, or summon an Ifrit or elder spirit to bring wreak havoc upon your enemies, sometimes more subtle means are necessary to get the job done right. Take your slash-all for instance; it's not as showy unless you start taking out hordes of enemies with a single throw, which is possible."

"In addition there are others: manipulation, which will let you take control of one of your enemy's actions temporarily. Double slash: which lets you move your arms so fast you can attack twice in the time it would take you to do one and eventually let you do four in the time of one. There's sense: it lets you instinctively know certain things about your enemies how healthy they are, their chakra levels, both max and current, what they are weak and strong against… stuff like that. Um… deathblow! That one lets you power up a strike to the point that either it's going to hit for a devastating attack, even a glancing blow, or its going to miss completely. I know you have a copy of that one in your bracer, and I'm telling you now: never use it on an enemy that's much faster than you are unless it's a sneak attack! That could be just stupid and suicidal. Then there are double summon and double magic; pretty self explanatory. Last one I can think of is enemy skills! Oh my favorite!" at this she picked up one of the two yellow ones. "I _know _you have one of these, it's invaluable for anyone trying to survive in the wild!"

Giving a questioning look that she couldn't see, though did sense, "What do you mean? What's it do?"

"Enemy Skills," she started, "is a one of a kind materia that lets you _learn_ your enemies abilities and lets you use them off of pure instinct." Naruto just sat thinking about it for a second, pulling one of the orbs free of his bracer, "I heard Shino and the Princess talking about Shinergun?"

"Sharingan!" he said laughing, feeling her amusement.

"A Sharingan that would let the owner copy almost any technique they see preformed. Well this materia is similar, save it learns almost any technique you can survive through. This is the second most useful of all command materia's. Barriers, healing techniques, offensive abilities of various elements, and supplementary skills of all kinds can be learned. There really isn't anything this thing can't do in some way, even if it's a roundabout way of doing it!" and she started to hold hers up to the sun, laying back into the grass, letting everything be silent.

Leaning back against his sword, lifting his hood up and looking at the sun through the orb he thought of something. "So… how do you know when you've learned a technique?"

Suddenly jumping up, brushing the grass off her backend, the kunoichi started to channel some chakra through the materia, "Well, technically you don't, the materia does, and you use the materia's powers. But when a technique is used against you, by either friend or foe, and hasn't been learned yet while you hold the materia, it starts to… radiate is the only word I can think of… It starts to radiate a feeling, like its receiving a signal from the power. Barret used to say he could 'feel the materia.'"

Naruto suddenly thought back to his Genin test, "… You know what? I think I already learned a jutsu this way." As he too jumped to his feet, not bothering to brush off, "When Kurenai-sensei used her Oomaka-kaji no jutsu on me I _felt_ the materia in my bracer. From the way you describe it I was learning the Jutsu, or rather the materia was. So how do you activate the different powers in the materia, is it like the other materia?!" the boy was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

Putting on a big smile to match his the girl put her materia into the Composer, "Well, you see you can only use a technique that has been used against you, otherwise you won't be able to recognize it. You need to feel for that same signal you felt, the exact same feeling you had when the jutsu was used against you the first time. This materia is different because it will let you use these abilities on instinct, meaning your body will produce the effect, naturally know how to do it and it will use the chakra necessary for the attack on its own, meaning you can't overpower an attack this way it will only be as strong as your chakra lets it be. Now I-"Naruto cut her off here.

"What do you mean 'as strong as my chakra lets it be?'" he looked stumped, "How could the amount of chakra put into an attack not matter yet then the strength if the chakra does… aren't they the same thing?"

"No," was her gentle response, actually surprised he didn't know this, "The more you use chakra, and the older you get, the stronger your chakra becomes, meaning when you use the same amount it will do more. For materia this means that the base amount will do more damage, no need to add more. In jutsu I guess you would either consider it the same or refine your control so you used less chakra for the same effect… I thought you understood that, I mean you have such strong chakra that I thought you had trained it." Now she looked stumped.

"No, it must either be the fox or the Refiner… That's something to think about…"

Nodding her head she went on, "Now I gave you an enemy skills that is completely bare, the jutsu that Kurenai used against you is the only one on it… Try using it, look for the same feeling as when she used the jutsu against you… remember what it was like and push that feeling into your hand and out of your body."

Taking a deep breath and trying to remember what the feeling was when he was attacked… well when he jumped into the flames… '_The materia was warm, like it spread through my whole body but came from the materia… yeah!' _Pushing the feeling through his hands and thrusting it out of his palms, in a mockery of Kurenai, sent a blast of expanding fire that roared in his ears out his hands, feeling the same burning from the materia as he did the first time, though soon the attack ended and the sensation was gone. _'She's right, I could feel a small drain from my chakra as the fire came out, even though I didn't put any chakra behind the strike.'_ This was amazing! As long as he had chakra he could use these techniques, seal less, at a whim. What he lacked in actual fighting speed he would make up with execution of his techniques in zero time at all! "What do I have to do for the other techniques? Where can I learn them?" he was eager for more.

"Well that's why I have mine out." Responded the spunky ninja, overjoyed that he liked the materia so much, "You see, Shino told me that he wanted to know what elements your bracer could absorb; said he didn't want you jumping in front of any attacks and getting killed."

'_uh-oh!'_

"Something popped up about you doing that the other day…"

'_Here it comes!'_

"**RUN KID! I DON'T WANNA DIE A VIRGIN!"**

"WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?! DUMBASS!!" and he felt a spike in her chakra, could Feel the anger, well hidden until then, and saw the barrage of missile's coming for him, exploding all around him, hitting him and generally hurting him. He also couldn't help but notice the yellow materia was starting to feel strange, this time like it was slick with oil… and it didn't hurt that much either.

Looking around Naruto saw the ground torn up in large masses, and the fact that he was still in piece only thanks to the HP plus and his own Natural endurance and stamina. _'This materia does work wonders!'_

"Dumbass, you're not supposed to smile when someone attacks you!" though she just sighed and walked over to him.

"Why not? You did because you cared and I learned a new attack!" he was smiling more than a person had a right to be. "So what kind of attack was that, seemed really strange."

"**That, kid, was probably a machine attack… guess the closest thing to compare them to would be puppet attacks… you DO know what a puppet is **_**right?"**_

'_Hey, where you been the past few days? Haven't heard from you in a while.' _Yuffie just looked at him expectantly, recognizing the look on his face when he was speaking to the Fox.

"**Nh, you haven't been doing anything interesting; low grade training, planning to redecorate your house, which you need to make a room for me in, running from your teammates when you should be trying to get on their good sides, I mean they ARE the only people other than Yuffie that you can confide in, at least a little… and if they were to betray us… You need to prevent that from happening."**

'_Good point… I never even thought about that, they had been so persistent that my first reaction was to clam up as much as possible.'_

"**A good stance to take in general. Don't let them in on everything, just some things. Half truths about the materia should be alright, since it is such an unknown, and you should try to say as little as possible when it comes to your family as possible, to prevent anything they can look up from getting out."**

'_Good advice, just one more thing… Why do you need a room in my house?'_

"**Because," **responded the demon, **"when I get out of here I'm going to need someplace to stay. And since you're the only thing stopping me from being free you get to put me up!"**

"And how are you supposed to fit in my house fur ball! You're a giant DEMON FOX!" the mere though made him laps into actual speaking, confusing the hell out Yuffie.

"**Gaki! I **_**am**_** a human retard! You just don't understand the history of the Bijuu!"**

"So explain it!" he said eagerly, something he desperately wanted to know.

"**Not today… not for a long while yet… It, it's a long tale and not an easy one… I lost many people in my story…"**

That had been the first time he heard emotion from the creature other than anger, hate, scorn, and a little happiness… he was so… sad, lonely… _'Later tonight then, we'll add a room… Sorry.'_

"**Not a problem." **Was the response, no hint of the former emotions in the voice, **"Anyway I was going to tell you that this stuff interests me. I remember when this materia was first created, fun then, and a lot of the powers have changes it seems. Ask her is she knows one of the techniques…"**

"Um, the fox wants to know if you know a certain technique… shadow flare… whatever it is I'm bought already!"

Yuffie apparently DID know the technique, because her eyes practically came out of her head as she said "_**NO**_!" "There is no way in hell that I'm throwing that one at you, it practically killed me when Sephiroth used it against me in the last battle… _no!_"

The Kyuubi was persistent though **"Come on!?"**

"No!"

"**Please?"**

"NO!"

"**I'll give you a cookie!"**

"_NO!_"

"**It's Choc-o-late!"**

"MAYBE!" she screeched.

"**Double diiiipped!!"**

"FINE! But not right now! We'll save it for the end of the session so he can learn the other powers. Now the attack I used was Matra magic, a machine ability, but this particular spell lets you form them from nothingness. Now I'm going to use White Wind on you, to heal your bruises, since it seems you could already take a hit the HP plus worked wonders and that's all you got, then I'll use Big Guard to get you used to the effects of haste and the barriers. Then I'm going to barrage you with as many Enemy Skills as I know, ending of course with Shadow Flare. Then you are getting me this cookie you speak of!" it sounded as if the cookie was most important thing on the list.

"One quick question," as she casted White Wind, and he felt all his aches and pains disappear in the gentle white light that seemed to float all around them like bubbles trapped underwater, "What's so bad about this Shadow Flare? If it's a fire attack then I should be able to absorb it." The materia felt like… softness, clean, if clean could be a feeling… I guess it could.

"There are some things," she said gravely, "that merely take on the form of an element, but are not of that element… Shadow Flare is one of those things. Its strong enough to sink a ship or obliterate a person's body if their chakra doesn't resists… It is one of the two most destructive abilities I've ever seen." And she cast Big Guard…

**---for MORROWIND!---**

Walking into the Hokage's Tower Ume took a deep breath, taking in the smells of wood, paper, and a hint of old parchment lingering in the air. Walking deeper into the tower she entered a room labeled 'missions and briefings,' the place where everyone went to get… well, missions and briefings.

Walking into the room caused everyone who looked her way to stop and stare at her… Well it wasn't every day that Ume of the Death Blossom walked into the tower, let alone missions and briefings. In fact it had been more than eleven years since she had been in this room, during the time right before the Kyuubi attack and having Sakura, and it had been six years before that she had entered the Tower altogether, in order to enter her daughter into the academy.

Almost nobody remembered what she had looked like in her shinobi gear, though here she stood, her Konoha Hitai-ate loose around her neck, her pink hair ending in the nape of her neck. While she did wear a jounin vest, hers was of pure black, a single sickle of red on the back, which ended right above her matching black skirt, short shorts protecting her modesty underneath it. Lastly was her sword, her constant companion, which sat at her waist, the blue sash with the word fire written in it wrapped around the sheath.

Walking over to Iruka, who was giving out a mission to team Asuma minus one, she greeted them, "Iruka-san, it's always a pleasure, Asuma-sempai… I haven't seen you in nearly two years, ever since that itsy-bitsy riot I may or may not have accidentally started." It was still up to debate on whether she had started it or not and whether it had been an accident or not… either way she had been arrested and three suspected murderers had been murdered in the process while they had been on the way to a trial that was likely to set them free… even though they were later found innocent was moot to the woman.

Asuma just glared at the woman, she was a fine shinobi and the best swordsman the Leaf had ever produced, but he couldn't help but feel that she was one of the worst people he had ever met, "Indeed Ume-san, it has been too long. I am glad to see you are joining the force again. Perhaps a new generation of kunoichi will be inspired by your presence… again."

Smiling, either never noticing or not caring that he was calling her old, she went to ask on his team, "Shika, Cho, now, now, were you given _that_ team? Obviously the Hokage looks out for his son! Or at least his reputation…" Gritting his teeth, Asuma managed to say nothing. So she had noticed the age comment and decided to throw back a hardball, "But where is Ino? I haven't seen the little wannabe in nearly six months. Has she improved… her, _style… _any?" the way Ume said that, Asuma didn't know if he should like it for pain it took for her to get them out or hate it for the way she was talking about his student… he chose the latter just to be safe.

"No," he started, making the Haruno start grinning, "In fact she has dropped the Sakura style completely." And while she smiled full out now he started to pull out a small yellow pouch and rolling paper, bending the paper and pouring a small hunk of tobacco into the paper, observing the woman out of the corner of his eye as he licked and rolled it, "Actually she hasn't been down here nearly all week, though I suppose the three of us should get her for some team training. She's been locked up doing some personal training since I destroyed her bokken." He looked a little sheepish at that.

Ume, the damn woman just smiled bigger at that, "Damn thing finally broke, eh? A fine piece of work if I do say so myself. You take a decent bokken, slap a few strengthening seals on it, and tell the girl it's a companion piece to Sakura's Masamune and the girl is happy. It didn't even matter than Muramasa died eight years ago, and was no friend to me anyway, she took the bait, hook, line, and sinker." Asmua's unlit cigarette fell from his mouth, Shikamaru and Choji had murder in their eyes, but the woman went on, "I mean I taught her something of kenjutsu, but I didn't think she would be stupid enough to keep at it, not with half the basics of a style as complex as the Sakura-ryo ."

Oh, she was defiantly one of the worst people he had ever met… This couldn't stand. Bending over, picking up the cigarette, he calmly placed it back in his mouth and lit it up. Taking a single drag he let out a long breath and retorted, "That is… interesting. Well you should know that she has decided to develop her own style," The death blossom's smile faded a little, "one geared to take on the Sakura-ryo… a counter style if you would. And she seems to have quite a grasp on what your style is capable of, she knows nearly as much as I do." As she spoke the smile faded and turned into a frown and by the end was a snarl.

"We all swore Asuma," as she took a threatening step forward, hand on her hilt, "we swore on Isshin-sama's grave! We swore that we would betray each other's techniques to anyone! I never revealed anything on the Sarutobi Hiden no jutsu."

"I betrayed nothing!" was his growling response, "Though if I remember correctly then, your daughter has remained close friends with Ino… perhaps you should look for the answers where they exist! Ino knows almost as much as I did, though there were some things she knew that I did not."

Glaring at the man, who glared back just as hard, Ume walked past them to Iruka, "Give me an assassination, I need to relieve some stress." She watched out of the corner of hers eyes as they left, sighing in relief.

"Ume-sama, we don't have any assassinations available for request. Though I do have a group of bandits that need to be rousted from an area in southern Fang Country."

Sighing the woman turned to her second option, "How about a bounty, what's the Bingo Book looking like these days?" a sly grin on her face. She needed to kill somebody.

"There are some decent ones out there, but its mostly D, C, and S-ranked criminals in Konoha's books… we haven't gotten a Bingo Book from Iwa, Kumo, or Kiri in three years and our allies prefer we don't cash in on their bounties for obvious reasons. Not many people are willing to take on enemy ANBU or ONI (Secret forces and Hunter nins respectively).

"Sounds like a plan to me!" and she had Iruka write out a missive to the Hokage, requesting pay for an enemy Bingo Book by the end of the week. She really needed to kill someone… she just hoped she did it soon… she really had liked Ino at first and really didn't want to have to kill the girl.

**---getting away-getting away- getting away with murder!---**

Kiba stood next to his mother as she checked over all the equipment one last time. He was idly looking over a map of Konoha he had gotten from his uncle for graduation.

They were in the heart of the Inuzuka lands, a little ways out of Konoha to the east, the Nara's on the exact opposite side of the village. Konoha itself was gigantic and split into several parts. First there was the Inner Village: this is where the Hokage's powerbase was and the majority of the Shinobi lived, the heaviest section of the village and a perfect circle that was four miles by four miles. When one thinks of Shinobi jumping from rooftop to rooftop they are thinking this area more than likely, as it is crammed with shops and apartments of all kinds, serving the shinobi populace only. In fact the majority of the business owners are retiree's or reserve shinobi.

Next was the Konoha proper, the place where the majority of civilians and some of the shinobi live, as well as having the Inner village located inside it. This is also where the local slums and redlight district are. If you ever need a fix, a cheap place to stay, or something illegal, come here… uncle Mike had a lot of names written down on the map here for some reason. The other places of import in this section are the market place, where you will find the best of everything in the village, and the hot springs… more names written here. Kiba had to hit his head. Over all the village was about twenty miles at its longest point and twelve at each of its two widest points.

The last part was outer Konoha, where all the clan grounds and training fields were located. When you heard about land disputes and infighting, it was due to the sixteen families that resided here at some point. The training grounds took up most of the space and no one was willing to make them any smaller, bordering the villages top one third, with the Senju ground now residing within the training zones itself on the lower eastern half. Not a mile south of the lands were the Inuzuka's kennels, and right below that the long and narrow strip of land that belonged to the Sarutobi. Both Inuzuka and Sarutobi bordered the eastern half of the Yuhi clan's holdings, though the clan itself was much smaller than it once was they still had at least a single resident to building.

Directly to the south of them were the Hyuga's who's lands had been bolstered by the absorption of most of the Namikaze estates, granted to the Fourth at his inauguration. All but the clan house, and the secrets held within, have been taken. This was, ironically, the doing of the Uchiha, who wanted to stop the Hyuga from gaining the Fourths secrets. For a single mile in radius around the clan house no one may enter. Directly to the south of the Hyuga is training zone 44, which was volatile a land that it was gated off and used for promotions. To the west of this is the Aburame Hives, a collection of clan houses and woods infested with bugs from all over the country.

To the north of this, and directly bordering the Namikaze and Hyuga lands, are Gekkou farm lands, given to them for service with their swords, the Akamichi manor house and training field, the smallest of the clan lands at a single square mile, and lastly the Hatake, given to Kakashi for all his service to Konoha and tying with Namikaze for the smallest clan with estates. The next immediate clan was the Uchiha, the second smallest clan with the largest estates and where just to the west of them a little.

Just to the north of them were the Yamanaka flower gardens, followed by the Shiranui, the leading metallurgists in Fire country, and then the Nara, the clan with the single largest estates. They are the producers of deer antler and raise many free range deer for various purposes. They managed to get these lands by providing a cure to a dying Hashirama Senju and his brother, Tobirama. If they hadn't been able to produce the cure than the Senju would have died and the Uchiha would have been leading the village.

There were only three more points of interest, the Mitarashi lands, which prepares the best foods in Konoha for the public to enjoy, the Morino, who are renowned for their knowledge of the human mind, and the Hokage's training grounds, bringing everything full circle.

(((please note people, in the time it took me to explain that he simply looked at it once, glancing at all the parts of the village.)))

Rolling up the map Kiba looked over to see his mother standing up and offering him a small bundle of incense, candles, and matches, she held on to several parcels of fresh meat. Taking the bundle he was motioned towards a giant hill, at the base of which was a small gateway that would lead under the hill. It was small enough that he would have the walk on all three, the fourth hand holding his package. As the reached it Tsume stopped and took a key out of her vest pocket, an old style key made if bone and had sharp teeth. Taking her son's hand she gentle cut in, covering the entire thing in his blood, before kneeling down and placing it into the lock on the old door and turning it silently. When she pulled it back out the key was bone dry and its original off white.

Before she opened the door, her hands braced on the wood, she spoke to her child one more time, "Do not speak a word that is not part of the ritual, do not open your eyes, on pain of death, and do not stray from the path I have given you." And like that the door was open and she was crawling into the dark recesses of the cave, Kiba not far behind.

Though he couldn't see, Kiba was still able to smell the wet earth, feel the moisture in the air, lingering there next to a sickly sweet smell of decay. The air was almost unbearably humid as they got farther in, to the point where he could practically taste the water that hung in the air. In the distance, and getting louder, was the sound of running water, in strict contrast to the almost deafening silence that clung around them otherwise.

Soon Kiba felt the stone path he was crawling upon end, leaving him to trace his hand along its outer line, over what felt like grass. _'Grass in a cave? But there's no light in here!'_ Feeling the end of his path was the sign to move left along the stone, soon coming upon a raised stone platform, according to his mother it was a perfect circle, but he did indeed trace along its sides to tell that it was. Now atop the circle Kiba turns to his left, _'I Swear, something said 'another one.''_

"_Interesting…"_

Now he knows he heard that, a mere whisper of a whisper and yet crystal clear at the same time, but he has no choice but to ignore it, _'Perhaps it's just part of the ritual…'_ And so he moves on, lighting the candles and incense he had carried in, setting them along the ring of the circle going clockwise. Kiba personally thought that this was one ritual the Inuzuka could do without. It was a family tradition dating back to the death of the Dog of War, the third son of the first Inuzuka. Kiba and his family were descendent from the second child, a female who sired thirteen children and had four lovers but no husband. The fist child died after giving birth to a single child, a boy of weak body, but mind beyond anything of his generation… that line had died nearly 150 years ago.

But that's all moot; the point of this ceremony was actually for any Inuzuka who chooses to take the path of the warrior gain the blessing of the Dog of War, as they had done when the man himself was actually alive. Any who failed to gain the blessing were doomed to die horrible deaths. Take for example Kiba's uncle, or at least what he had heard of the man. He supposedly fell off a cliff, into a rocky gorge, then into the river, where he was sent over a waterfall and soon washed out to sea. He then came to shore in Kaze no Kuni, wandered the desert until he found an oasis, according to his diary he had with him. As soon as the entry was done he jumped into the water and was eaten by piranha. They know all this happened because his team watched as he fell and was swept out to sea and then they found his remains in the water, sans diary. Hence is why, even if Kiba doesn't truly believe, he is here, lighting incense and Tsume putting out offerings of food.

Once everything was in place Tsume began the ritul, speaking slowly, embracing every word.

"Dog of War, leader of the Pack that hunts in the last nights, strongest and greatest of our breed. I beseech you to bring your blessings upon my pup:

"I am weak and wish you to make me strong."

"I beg of you to grant him your divine intervention when the bloodlust comes upon him:

"I am young and need guidance in battle, I beg you to lead me and guide my hand."

"And may you take his soul unto the mighty pack when he has passed on:

"I wish to fight by your side always, even unto death, and run upon all four when the last night comes, howling defiance into the winds when the hellcats rise to claim the earth."

"I beg of you and offer myself to thy loins, givith unto you fresh meat, and light scents in your memory."

"_They always choose such rough scents, never lilacs or jasmine…"_

Ignoring the whisper again Kiba tried to clear his mind. At this point he was supposed to meditate, think on both the Dog of War and the House of Dogs… but he simply couldn't. His thoughts of late were always on his team and his future as a shinobi.

"_Hehehe, kid seems kinda disturbed, wonder whats going on with him?"_

'_There it is again! Its just the running water… just water, now concentrate.'_ But his thoughts drifted once more. Sakura and Ino had their swords, Sasuke and Hinata had their eyes, Choji, Shikamaru, and Shino had clan techniques that they were soon to master no dought, and then there was Naruto… The person that Kiba had once known was gone now. Now there was a man with a sword and smelt of so many things not of this world: Fox, metals, seasonings, and plants that Kiba had never smelt before. Though he didn't know it, it was a testament to how strong his senses were that he could tell what each thing was(metal, plant, ect) without having seen or smelt the original. Then there was what Akamaru said about him.

According to his canine companion there was something that reeked of chakra in his left arm and the giant sword he always carried around now, the only way something smells like that is if it is constantly, day after day, being dosed with large sums of chakra. Then there was the smell of blood on him… only two type of people always smelt of blood to dogs like Akamaru; those that killed lots of people often, such as the ANBU or ONI, and those that had a bloodline limit… it was one of the secrets of the Inuzuka… their dogs could find bloodline users and track them quite easily… if Kumo or Kiri were ever to find out…

"_Wonder if he'll actually open his eyes, no one else has but he seems weird… I LIKE HIM!"_

There it was again, louder too, without thinking Kiba opened his eyes and looked around before quickly closing them again.

"_Hey! He did it! Congratulations gaki!"_

Couldn't his mother hear it, it was loud enough now, though it still sounded like a whisper, though a very loud one. There was no doubt that someone was down here with them.

"_Its alright, your mother won't hear you… I put her into a deep sleep… Open your eyes pup."_

Slowly, tentatively, Kiba lifted one of his eyelids, seeing his mother laying down on her stomach. Opening his other eye he started looking around. Strangely there was light down here, coming from the water of all things. "So that's how grass can grow down here without the sun."

"_Yup!"_ came the voice from right next to Kiba, making the boy jump a little, "_This is water from the base of Mt. Makaze, back when the Inuzuka were Allied to the lords of that mountain."_ Turning around slowly, the boy looked at the man who was speaking, the man that belonged to that echoing whisper. His long brown hair was wild, yet at the same time tamed into a long braid in the back. His bare chest was covered in scars of all shapes and sizes, though they seemed to move every now and then and even change shapes. His pants were ripped grey kaki, similar to the pair Kiba wore, and his feet were bare. Lastly, sitting on his back was quiver full of arrows and on his lap was and unstrung bow .

"Who are you?" he asked, though his mind immediately jumped towards a single thought.

"_My _name_ is Anaki Inuzuka… You would know me as the Dog of War."_ Seeing the young shinobi's eyes widen he sighed, _"Even in life people did that. I am but human, but people rarely see the man, they see the legend, the hero, the Shinobi!"_

"They see what they want to see." Was Kiba's response, wanting to talk to this individual of amazing legends and god like prowess.

"_Exactly! They see what they want to… and I can still see the hero worship in _your_ eyes, but I'll forgive you. Well, you must have questions and, despite hating the hero worship, it gets pretty boring down here. I mean I've been dead two hundred and fifty years… That's one-thousand-seven-hundred-fifty in dog years. So… Watcha wanna know!?"_ the man's grin was infectious.

Kiba could practically see the mans tail wagging, he looked that excited. _'he's right, he is only human, he seems too normal to be the Dog of War… or at least to have _once_ been that.'_ Kiba now noticed the man was much too pale to be human… and was translucent. "What was it like back then?" he asked suddenly, thinking that so long as he had the chance to talk to the legend… "Back before the world was in the relative order it is in today?"

The man lit out a huge smile, glad that the boy didn't just ask about his personal history. _"It was… Chaotic, to say the least. What with the Hyuga and the Uchiha fighting with the descendents of the Sage of the Six Paths, the Akamichi trying to take over the world, the Bijuu first starting to appear in the world, and the Inuzuka being the biggest source of fighters for hire out there, especially with my nieces and nephews out there producing more babies than a rabbit on crack."_

"Wait, _wait_, WAIT! Whats this about the Akamichi trying to take over the world?"

Anaki actually looked surprised, _"What, you guys don't even have it recorded anymore? The Akamichi were the single most powerful clan in the world, what with the death of the Sage forty some years earlier? Their attacks were strong, they had and amazing knowledge of the human body, a set of techniques no one could copy, they food pills allowing them to pack light and go farther, not to mention their retainers were some of the most brilliant and skilled men and woman ever seen, each possessing abilities that, while not blood line oriented, were still unique and powerful in their own right."_ Kiba realized that he had to have been talking of the Nara and Yamanaka.

"_They started to hit all the most valuable areas there were, trying to swallow the entire continent whole. They only failed, and this is when the hero worship starts, because I killed Emperor Akamichi himself. The man was a giant even among his own people, easily weighing a ton. I was hired by an Uchiha who had lost his wife in one of their raids, his clan head unwilling to spare time to deal with the growing threat in favor of ending one that had plagued them much longer than the Akamichi. I was asked to assassinate the emperor and take down as many of them as I could. In a single battle, besieging their powerbase, I killed seventy or eighty of the Akamichi and a good thirty of their retainers who chose to stay and fight. And in the end I fought the Emperor himself in Mortal Kombat!"_

As the man told of his battle Kiba was drawn in by his words. Brutal blows, amazing jutsu, and simply unimaginable to anyone who wasn't hearing it right then and there as he was. It would have made a hell of a book. _"In the end he had managed to open all eight of the Celestial Gates and taken the Legendary Red Curry Pill. I on the other hand, had Five Gates open, had just taken a soildier pill, and had my bloodline at full blast… and I lost!"_ once the living Inuzuka picked his face from the ground he was all wide eyed again.

"But you didn't die until the fevers hit ourkennels… everyone knows that!"

The man just smiled, standing up and stretching… Kiba subconsciously wondered why a dead man would need to stretch, _"True, but I didn't say that I died, just that I lost. He had me beat, I was waiting for the final blow to hit when he fell over dead, his body literally eating itself from the inside out. Mixing the last gate with the Curry pill was too much and he died of it. I actually watched as his body withered away into nothing."_

"Amazing…" he said in awe, "The Akamichi are so peaceful now, I would never have thought it of them to be powerful enough to try and take on the world."

"_That's rule number one in my book: you never know what a person is capable of until their dead, and even then you can't be sure."_ Walking over to Kiba's mother, the elder sat down, this time leaning against the woman's prone form. _"Well, I told you a little about myself… so now I want to know why you looked so upset earlier when you were supposed to be meditating."_

Kiba was embarrassed, but you don't deny things to people like him, no matter how hard it is to talk about it, "I, I was thinking about my team, about my future, and how to get stronger. I mean I can't compete with doejutsu's like the Sharingan and Byakugan, or against refined sword styles like Sakura-san's, even Ino's style is better than what I have to offer and she isn't half as good as Sakura. Then there are the other clan heirs; they all seem to be advancing in leaps and bounds while I'm stuck learning the _basics_ of the Inuzuka Clan Techniques!" he was seething now, his eyes growing tight, though Anaki listened avidly.

"If I had a doejutsu with HALF the power of the Sharingan, if I had a weapon that was HALF as strong as the Sakura-ryo, or techniques half as strong those of the other clans… if, if, if only I could become stronger. Akamaru and I are an awesome team, but even together we wouldn't stand a chance. My sister and mother have held me back, telling me that it's for the best and that I shouldn't be so eager for power, that it'll corrupt me… But I tell you: They. Are. _Wrong!_ I love this village and this clan and will always do what is necessary to protect them…I,I… I need power to do that though!" the boy was on his knee's now, tears flowing freely.

'_Poor pup. He wants to help so badly, to be strong and do so much… I can't entirely blame his mother, she just wants to protect her child, but this is not how things are supposed to be, I can tell… I have no choice then!'_ walking over to the boy the eldest Inuzuka knelt down and lifted his head with a single hand, one that was surprisingly solid, _"Kid, what would you say if I could give you eyes stronger than the Sharingan in some aspects, and weapons that would meet, and perhaps out due, any sword style you come across. Help you master clan techniques that haven't been seen in a century and develop powers never seen in the shinobi world!"_

Kib was shocked, why? Why would the Dog of War want to help someone like him?

"_Because,"_ he replied, Kiba now realizing he had spoken his thoughts aloud, his already red face getting more red, _"You have the ability and drive. Because you are worthy of carrying on my mantle and becoming the next Dog of War."_

"Carry on your… You mean you want me to…"

"_Become my apprentice, learn from me and let me, as you phrased it earlier, 'lead you and guide your hand.'"_ To be apprenticed to a legend, a man who was born during the time of the Sage and was the first warrior in his clan… and was also dead.

"How are we supposed to do this though, your… uh, dead?" his still wet face scrunched a little and when the man laughed it scrunched even more.

"_I have my ways, all I need of you is to bring the skin of a fresh dead dog or wolf, at least under a day old and preferably wild, for obvioue reasons. A vial of human heart blood, I would suggest a local criminal if at all possible. Last are my bones, which are right here in the shrine, some meat, which you have already supplied, and candles... which I still think should have been jasmine. While inside this shrine I can still use chakra and touch the world, due to the familial chakra here and the sacred waters flowing here help ensure my consciousness is able to survive and take form. Bring these things here tonight and I will restore my body and resume existence!" _

Kiba felt like he was in a bad horror movie for a second."Its that easy?!?" he asked incredulecly, eyes cocked in disbelief.

"_Easy! Easy!! I should probably tell you that I would have an easier time turning my body into chakra than doing what I plan on doing, then add that to the fact that you need to be dead in order to even try this ritual! Meaning that after a person dies others would have to perform special jutsu and rituals in order to prepare the remains and I just so happened to luck out! The proper rituals were lost generations ago, but when they were preparing my remains they decided to throw as many rites and blessings on me as possible to try and gain my favor… so yeah, this is easy…"_

Looking a little sheepish Kiba started to drag his mother out of the, not shrine, but tomb. Anaki yelling after him not to tell anyone and what his cover story would be to his mother.

That night uncle Mike lost one of his best dealers, a deer was saved from being prey, and the Inuzuka Shrine was apparently vandalized. But a legend was reborn in the morning…

_**-------KILL FRODO----- from the leader of the 'kill frodo' campaign in my old school ------**_

It was the next day when Naruto met up with his team, appearing in person since it was a training day. They were in one of the farther training fields today, one that Kurenai really liked, with a small pond and a few trees. He went with a robe of dark green today, hood up, and Oboegan activated. He was feeling pretty good considering yesterday… and there went any good feeling, as Hinata started walking towards him. She immediately noted the Oboegan, and began to speak quietly after she looked around the area with her partial Byakugan.

"I have some more questions for you!" she started, more rudeness than needed in her voice, "How materia is used, where we can get some, and what other side abilities do your eyes grant you?"

Looking up at the sky Naruto sighed in frustration. They still had about five minutes before Kurenai appeared. He would have to make something up, unless he wanted to tell her what she wanted.

"**Hey kid, just tell Slutnata Hyuga the very basics of materia, just that you put chakra into the orb and it does the rest, nothing else. And as for where, tell her the truth, you don't know,** **just somewhere west."**

'_And what about the Oboegan?'_

"**What can I tell you, you should probably find out for yourself? The Hyuga have their chakra control and juken, the Uchiha have their genjutsu and Hidden Fist, and both clans make amazing spies. What can you do?"**

He had never stopped to think about that. He could fight with the eye, but what else could he do… Hinata was starting to Feel agitated by his silence, _'guess its time for Hyuga Lying101.'_

"Materia is easy," he began with no further prelude, "All you need to do is force as much chakra into one of the orbs as possible, and the materia will do the rest of the work!"

The Hyuga just nodded as if he told her something she already knew, "This materia gets more and more marvelous as you keep telling me about it, it almost seems _too_ good to be true… makes a girl wonder what the truth of the matter is. Now," she started, placing her arms under he bosom suggestively, leaning towards him and with her outfit, which he now noticed the fishnet bra was missing from, it worked remarkable well, "where might I get a hold of some of this materia?"

With a lopsided grin plastered on his face the blod calmly pointed out to her, "When did it go from 'we' to 'I'? I'm assuming that you aren't that worried about Shino getting materia as much as you getting it, eh?" She just scowled at him, her arms dropping a little, changing her posture from suductive to annoyed… and none too soon for the hooded shinobi.

"Answer the question Uzumaki!" he beautiful face marked with anger, "Where did your clan get this stuff?"

"West," he said without hesitation. He had gotten better at lying in the past week, his cover story becoming more solid. He had gotten the materia, weapons, and clothing from the Sandaime after his bloodline activated, along with several other objects he was very vauge about. Everything was from his fathers half the family and ver little was known about them. But I digress, "West, past the deserts and mountains. The land was rich with minerals and crystals of all kind." Did the Kyuubi just growl? "This led to the people there trying to refine natural energies into crystals. What they produced were perfectly shaped gems, orbs that focused chakra and created the techniques they used." _'Whats wrong?'_ Hinata just walked away with her face scrunched in concentration, both of them sensing Shino and Kurenai walking towards them.

"**You… are closer than you thought." **Was the reluctant reply, **"That is actually… that's how materia came to be!"** Naruto's shock was palpable, **"Not now, we can talk later."**

Naruto was more than willing to put it off for the moment, as Shino and Kurenai walked into the clearing. Though he did feel the need to throw one last barb, _'why is everything will always be explained 'later''_ for which the fox had no answer.

Gathering around their teacher, the sun just rising over the horizion in the east, they listened intently, "Now I know this is only the second training day, our first just consisting of basic taijutsu spars," she had been recovering from dango night with Anko and Naruto had been jukened by Hinata, "so tody I intend for us to get a grasp on each others abilities. I will start, of course. You saw my two ninjutsu, and know my taijutsu style, though I can go much faster than that and my Oomaka-kaji no jutsu is much stronger than what I pushed out at you. I am a Genjutsu specialist, first and foremost, able to trap any and all of you in an illusion with very little effort on my part." As she said this Naruto Felt the person in front of them dissapear, something the same size appearing behind them, touching them.

Hinata looked unruffaled when the clone looked her in the eyes, her Byakugan already activated, though Naruto suddeenly felt an overwhelming fear coming from the girl.

Naruto himself saw nothing new, though his eyes were covered, and he was able to ignore the screams and yells that the woman's jutsu created, the smell of death and decay only ruffled him a little, as his excellent nose could tell that they were artificial. No it was the feeling of spiders crawling under his skin and snakes slithering across his arms and legs as they tried to restrict him that bothered him, only bothered because he could Feel all over his skin and knew there was nothing there, but the skin itself was registering the feeling… not something he could quite ignore yet. But eventually… well mind over matter as they say.

'_There's one thing extra it can do; I may fall for an illusion, but I will still feel what's real and what's not… could have some interesting results with that.'_

As for Shino, he never moved and Kurenai just looked in his direction, but his bugs just went haywire. Naruto was able to feel both frustration and confusion from the outwardly placid boy.

"Interesting…" came their sensei's voice from behind him, delicately touching his chin with a single finger, her arm wrapped around Hinata's shoulders, and looking straight at Shino. "Never expected these results… I'm impressed. Now why doesn't the statue here," as she tightened her grip on Hinata a little, "tell us about what skills she is proficient in, then you Shino, provided those bugs ever find you, and then Naruto, who performed the best, can go last."

Releasing them, and moving away, Kurenai laughed as Hinata let out a deep breath she had been holding. The pale eyed girl began moving towards their teacher as if to slap her, only to be stopped by a wave of killing intent that Naruto was able to Feel coming from the woman, amusement playing across her face and vindication playing over her mind. Hinata was just a ball of fury and still slightly scared. "What," snarled the Heiress, "was _that?!_"

The red eyed kunoichi actually smiled, "The Byakugan lets you see everything around you, it even lets you see your own chakra points. Other than that though it requires you to be aware of your own position within the 'Field of Divination.' It does not let you see within your own body, thus anything effecting the internal systems of a Hyuga cannot be detected by that Hyuga." After that though she clammed up and sat near one of the trees and motioned the angry little girl to start. Shino and Naruto both followed suit not long after, the latter needing to adjust his weapons so wasn't being stabbed and was leaning against the sword.

Standing at attention Hinata started by fully activating the Byakugan, "The All Seeing Eyes, as they have been so mislabled. They allow the user see everything in a 360 degree circle around them, including chakra and the chakra points. In addition to these adavntages it gives the user the added effect of near perfect chakra control, as they can see the points on their own bodies and focus chakra to the actual points as well as being able to see how much chakra they are putting out and adjust it accordingly."

And then she deactivated the amazing eyes, "I despise these eyes of mine. They are a tool, but nothing more. Without these eyes I am as deadly as any shinobi, with them I am only made more powerful, so if I train without the eyes and then use them to fight in actual engagments then I will be all the stronger." Naruto Felt a strange determination, and iron will, coming from the girl, and both appreciation and pride coming from Kurenai.

Working from the basics of the Juken," she went on, touching her wrists on either hand and unsealing two sai's, "I have developed a very basic, but useful style of fighting with these. By forcing chakra through the metal I can achieve the same effects as a normal Juken strike in addition to the stabbing power of the weapons and an elongated reach, one of the few flaws in the Hyuga style." And as quickly as the weapons appeared they were gone.

"**There must be seales under her sleeves. That's why she wears the overcoat; she can hide any number of seals under there without her family or enemy shinobi becoming too suspisiouse ."**

Naruto had to agree with the fuball, it seemed most plausible. Naruto watched as Hinata performed some technique he missed the name of, creating a bluish white orb around her as she spun in place, _'A defensive jutsu, without a doubt, and something from the Hyuga clan, as I have never seen of heard of anything like this.'_ To him, the fact that he HAD been the dead last in his class was not a factor into that equation.

"And lastly, in addition to the kaiton, I have taken it upon myself to learn three different elemental barrier jutsu's. Due to the Byakugan we Hyuga have not two major, but three minor elemental affinities, in addition to any elements we are born with. Though I cannot tell you which elements make up the Byakugan, or really go into any further detail, I will say that this factor has helped greatly in learning elemental techniques. The three I have been able to learn are Raiton: Raitate, Doton: Doryuheki, an suiton: Suijinheki. The first one is Raiton: Rai-tate, a decent barrier against both living organic materials and metallic objects. Attacks fused with earth elemental chakra will also be negated, due to the Law of Opposing Elements. The next one is Doton: Doryuheki,which is the best, all-around shield stopping both physical objects and a majority of jutsu's alike… though mine isn't very tall." Did she actually sound sheepish, she sure Felt it. "The last one is my pride and joy," she said with head held high, "the Suiton: Suijinheki no jutsu! A technique that once belonged to the Nidaime and is perfect for when you're surrounded by foes. It takes in surrounding water to lift you up on top of a water spout, making it possible to get behind or around your enemies as well as pushing them away. That is, at least, when you have an unlimited amount of water, a small pond like this would never be able to pick me up." Walking over to the waters edge Hinata did a string of hand seals and created a smaller version of the actual attack, making an actual barrier rather than a water spout.

It also had the side effect of leaving the pond devoid of all life.

_**__make fun of old people------- IT"S FUN**_

Clad in his red cape and cowl, mechanical arm made of a bronze metal hidden in his sleeves, Vincent stood at the south end of the Calm Lands, looking over the large village that had sprung up there. The 'village' as it was, was simply all the ships they had with them anchored down in place, vertically staggered so as to save room, then underneath the ships the crew that were not vital to ship maintenance had set up camp. With seventy plus ships in their possession they took up most of the valley, even with staggering the ships. After four days of being there they had come across little of note, well nothing outside of the many and powerful monsters that roamed the valley. Luckily for them they were all similar, if not identical, to the monsters of their own world. The fact that they had a little under seven-hundred fighting men and women, along with nearly one-thousand crew members for the ships who saw more than a little action during the age of Shinra and the Meteor Crisis didn't hurt either.

Looking north he saw a small party moving, down near the base of the gigantic snow covered mountain in the distance. _'Perhaps Cloud and his team have finished their scout of the area?' _either that or a group of monsters were attacking the camp again… or someone had disobeyed orders and went exploring on their own. _'The damn fools are lucky if they didn't get attacked!'_ Ever since Cloud, Tifa, and Nanaki left to scout, Cloud to the north with a few former SOLDIER's while the other two went to the south, there had been nearly a dozen attacks on the encampment.

Turning around Vincent stared into the crystalline forest. It looked every bit as real and dangerous as any forest he had seen before… yet it seemed even more alive. It called to his inner beasts, making them want to hunt and run free in there. The only other one to that was seated high in the cliffs of Cosmo Canyon.

Staring off into the woods he almost didn't hear the movement, the sound of feet batter and the occasional shattering sound. He hadn't been the forest himself, so he had no idea of what would be causing the latter, but the former he recognized. Turning around he walked to the edge of the hill he stood upon, calling down into the makeshift village, "Nanaki and Tifa have returned, get Cid up here on the double!"

Finally they would get their first glimpse into this new world they had entered, the world where the Uzumaki had taken their friend… at least he hoped this was the right world. He hadn't had the heart to tell the others that he might have made a mistake. Though even if it _was_ the wrong world he had opened up a new land of trade and exploration, one inhabited, as was apparent by the ruins at the bottom of the gorge to the north, by civilized peoples.

Turning around once again he walked towards the progressively louder sound of shattering crystals, now met by female cursing. Soon the pair came around the bend into view. Tifa, beautiful Tifa with her long brunette hair and matching brown leather vest pant combo, and Nanaki, a wise, strong, and fast feline with fire red fur and a tail that actually burnt with a majestic flame. The two, despite all the ruckus they had been making, barely looked winded, though unless they encountered something akin to Sephiroth or the Weapons he had no concerns for their safety.

Slowing down as they approached him, a smile Tifa's face and what he assumed to be a grin on the giant cat's, "Welcome back!" he said in a warm voice. Well warm to those who knew him. "Cid is on his way up here and I believe Cloud may have returned as well, though I can't be sure. Have you learned much?"

"Actually we learned more than we thought we would." Was Nanaki's, or Red as he was known to the others, response, letting Tifa give the full explanation.

"It was half a days travel to the edge of these woods," she started while stretching he calves, "The Macalania Woods by the way!"

"You encountered people, were they human?" was the eager interruption.

Nodding an affirmative she went on, "After we got out of the Macalania Woods we entered the Thunder Plains, an underdeveloped land with a natural defense thanks to the violent lightning storm over it that never ends and long spanning fields. There are a few lightning rods along the path but not enough to cover everything and the monsters there are plentiful. When we reached the end we were tired, dirty, and my cloths kept zapping me, but luck was with us, as we reached our first township, Guadosalam. Here we encountered the first human life, as well as a small group of sentient beings, the Guado. They were far and few between, but in general they looked like amphibious tree's. In the town we were welcomed with open arms by the populace, who were celebrating the one year since the destruction of… sin." As she said this her eye's seemed to wander into nothingness behind Vincent, confusing the red clad man.

"No, not just sin… Sin!" came the growling voice from behind Vincent. Turning around the saw their wayward leader, standing beside a big, blue, furry… thing! "My name is Kimahri Ronso," it… he said in a slow voice, his words drawn out and carefully said, a voiced more accustom to growls and barking out words than speaking them out.

"Yeah! This is Kim!" was Clouds belated introduction, "Found him up in the mountains with his clan, singing to a giant statue of a horned girl… pretty cute girl too!" ah! Nothing ever changed about Cloud, "Oh! HIya Tifa, didn't see you there."

Tifa just glared while Kimahri went on, "No, not pretty girl. High Summoner Yuna. Ronso build statue of little Yuna and give her big horn, bigger than any Ronso has ever had. She saved world. Sin would come, every ten years, and bring pain and suffering. Yuna ended suffering of others… I helped!" he seemed to hold himself a little higher at that point. "Cloud say you look for boy? Young Uzumaki?"

Vincent was shocked, who would have thought they would find him already? "You know where he is?" he asked calmly.

The Ronso just shook his head, "I met him only once. He fell from the sky, onto the Great Gagazet. He was crying and had many broken bones and a broken spirit. He was lucky, little Yuna had come to see statue and healed him. After that he go with her to Farplane. You want find him, you need little Yuna."

Vincent was still happy, on the inside at least, they couldn't be far from this boy now, they would find him here, "Where do we find this little Yuna?" he asked, getting a simultaneous answer from Red and Tifa.

"The Djose Temple." After that they were on the receiving end of three confused looks. "Well," started red in answer, "we were going to talk about it in a second when the blue fur ball showed up. We met some people in Guadosalam who recognized our description of Naruto. They said he was with a girl named Yuna when they saw him last, and that the High Summoner was going to be staying at the temple in Djose to try and conjure an Aeon."

Kimahri nodded at this, though he simply glared at Red, "The hornless one is right. Little Yuna was going to the temple there. Young Uzumaki brought her hope. If you want more than you must ask Yuna… I will take you there." And lifting the spear that Vincent hadn't noticed, he began to walk down the hill, "Which ships yours? They are different from Al'bed ship, but if they move as fast we be there in hours."

As he walked down towards the large grouping of ships he passed an older pilot, cigarette in his mouth and a wrench in his hand, "Vince, ya'old bastard, what'cha want from me god dammit! And what the hell's with the big fuckin monkey man?"

Vincent just sighed and motioned him back towards the ships, telling him they would be moving soon and to get one of the ships prepped for flight.

They had found the Uzumaki.

--------"I'm gunna teach you to pray, take you to church… oh wait, I can't… you might get _fondled_! … no, you're a girl… your safe."--------------

Activating her partial Byakugan, and sitting next to Naruto, Hinata tried to stay as far away from Kurenai as possible. The teacher though got up and stood in front of them and addressed them, "So, Hinata is highly proficient in taijutsu, though only in the Juken, and has a weapon style that enhances her reach and still maintains the main strength of the Juken while adding an additional bite. Similar to me she only has a few ninjutsu, all of which can be quite useful in a number of situations. Tell me Naruto, how could we use the Raiton: Rai-tate in battle effectively?"

Thinking for a second Naruto answered, "Well she could activate the jutsu to prevent the enemy from advancing and Shino could send out his bugs while I launched my shuriken."

Kurenai nodded, though her response wasn't as positive, "Yes, I suppose you _could_, provided that Hinata could hold the technique long enough, the enemy didn't dodge out attempts, he didn't cast any ninjutsu, and that Shino could actually control his bugs with the interference." At this the Aburame shook his head to the side, "How about you Shino, any ideas?"

The boys answer was cold, quick, and shouted 'obvious' at the top of its lungs, "Hinata could be standing I wait, while Naruto, yourself Kurenai-sensei, and I harried the enemy towards her, and when they are there she could activate it. This would force the enemy to either try and go through it, fight back, or try to jump it, to which we will be able to attack his prone form from every available angle."

Kurenai smiled, showing him the positive to his answer, "Good! Now we could also modify the same strategy to go with the Douton technique as well some time. As for your other two techniques I would suggest using the Suijinheki, as it seems to be the more effective of the two, anywhere else an you should use Kaiton, that way you'll be most effective… just don't use it on any tree's."

To all this Hinata just scowled.

Shino was up next and he started by summoning out as many bugs as he had available, "This!" he said, spreading both arms out before him, "Is my hive! They all share their thoughts at lightning fast speeds, relaying them to me. What one bug wants they all want and what I want they want. They reside in my body, feeding off my chakra, and in turn provide me with chakra when I have none. If need be they may also reproduce several of my bodily functions, such as keeping my lungs breathing if my diaphragm is damaged, keeping my airways free if my neck is damaged, even keeping my blood flowing or temporarily replacing muscles that have been severely damaged. Some of the bugs produce special scents that they can trace and others, new ones that I have introduced into my system, have allowed me to invent several new jutsu's that do not reside in my clans library's. The first is Hiden Ninjutsu: Kiri-biransei (poison mist), while the other is Hiden Ninjutsu: Biransei-yari (Poison spear)."

"The first of the two is based off of the Hidden Mist technique, however instead of mist I use a thick cloud of airborne poison mass produced by my bugs to cover a thick area."

"Um, what about us and you, we won't be able to make it through the jutsu without being affected." this was Naruto, Kurenai was glad someone had brought up the obvious flaw.

"Indeed, it is a problem, however it is the reason I created the second jutsu. The jutsu sends out a small cloud of poison in a straight line at the enemy, exploding into a small cloud when it hits them. In addition I am already immune to the poison that they emit, allowing me to use both techniques effectively, although I am not sure how far this immunization and the bugs will go towards protecting me from other poisons. Currently I am working on perfecting their poison's to the point where it will appear to be normal mist."

"Lastly, I have developed, with the help of my father and local kenjutsu users, a fighting style the uses duo scythes. While I do not put chakra behind the strikes they are still as deadly as any weapon in skilled hands… That is all." And with that he gave a little bow.

"So," Naruto began casually, "are your related to anyone by the name of Stein?"

Shino just froze for a second, "We haven't heard from uncle Ben in many years… What ever happen to him?"

---buler, buler, buler, Ferris BUler… Has anyone seen Farris Buler… Buler…---

Standing outside the Djose Temple, Vincent couldn't help but find it… wanting. He had not, of course, seen it in its full glory, when a summoner would come to call on the Aeon within. Walking into the temple, Kimari in front of him, they proceeded through the Fayths challenge. Normally this would have been a difficult thing, but with the Aeon's dead and Yuna inside the defenses did not spring up at all. Soon he found himself outside a doorway, having been told to wait there by the Ronso, who was now bringing out one of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She was probably only seventeen, with short brown hair and a semi-kimono of white, pink, and yellow, while wearing a skirt of blue that went down to her ankles. He now saw why Cloud had called the statue cute. None of this displayed on his face, but still. Walking up to him, Nirvana held delicately in her hands, she bowed to him, "Hello, I am High Summoner Yuna. It is a pleasure to meet you." Her voice was… dainty.

"Greetings," he said gruffly, "I am Vincent Valentine. I have come here today tospeak to you of a boy: Naruto Uzumaki. Are you familiar with the name?" she would know, he could already tell by the way that she looked up at him then.

Nodding, a small smile on her face, "Uh-hu. I tended to his wounds on Gagazet and traveled with him a little while. He was an amazing boy, so distraught after he came here. He claimed to have lost a close friend, a female who he watched die." The vampires heart turned to ice. "She and he had apparently grown close, training and trading small gifts, but soon he had to leave the world and she was taken from him."

He had to be sure before he jumped to any conclusions, "Tell me… did he tell you her name?" If she was dead then they still needed to avenge her.

"No, I am sorry… did you know the girl?" her smile was gone, replaced by a small frown.

"Yes I think I did. You see, the Uzumaki kidnapped her, as far as we could tell. If you are right then our friend is dead, all thanks to him. We must find him!" his words held a thin strand of rage that made them cut close to one another.

The young girl had her eyes wide now, "No, no! That can't be! He was quite the gentle boy, never being mean to anyone and training diligently wherever we would stop. In fact I gave him a scroll of sword techniques that once belonged to Sir Auron. I could not see him kidnapping anyone or doing any wrong onto someone on purpose. Besides which he would not be here… he left this world for Korin's Tower nearly three weeks ago!"

Vincent turned away and started to walk down the stairs, "Unless you can prove she lives," he yelled back to the girl, "I have no more time to spend here. We will not search your world, as when _I_ first met him, four weeks ago, he already had this scroll you speak of… He must have already been here and left before he came to mine." _'Perhaps time doesn't matter when you don't stay in any one world!'_ he thought excitedly, _'Meaning we could catch him before Yuffie dies and save her!'_

As he walked out the front of the temple he was stopped by a voice calling after him, "Wait! WAIT! I can find out if she lives!" Turning around he found himself staring into the neck of a growling Kimari. Looking down to the man's side he saw Yuna panting with her hands on her knees, "I can… find out… if she's dead… I need to start running some more!"

"How!?" was the brisk, gruff answer from the man, earning a loud growl from the man-beast.

"The Farplane!" was her answer, "I can take you to the Farplane. That is where the dead go when they die, their final resting place. If you go there you can see anyone who you knew in life, yet if they live then they will not appear. I can take you there within the day, it is in Guadosalam. If we start now we can be there before nightfalls."

"No need." He said calm and quick, "We'll be taking a ship." Pointing over to where the Highwing was anchored.

"Oh!" she hadn't flown in nearly a year… she missed it greatly.

_**---you say goodbye and I'll say hello--- can anyone say stalker?---**_

Standing in front of them again Kurenai thought about what she could criticize from Shino's display, but all she could come up with was that it was boring. "Alright, that was an excellent job Shino, though I think you should try and increase your arsenal of jutus and your chakra capacity. Can anyone else think of something?" Only Hinata raised her hand, _'Count on Hinata to think of a flaw with someone!"_

"Over all your style just needs polishing, but I see no true flaws. I only wish to inquire if it is possible for all of us to acquire your immunity to your bugs poison, it would be a great asset to the team and Leaf as a whole."

When he replied to the negative Kurenai motioned Naruto to the front, where he awkwardly stood. The fox had started telling him what to say during the end if Shino's session and he pretty much had it all covered now. He would, unfortunately, let Kurenai in on the secret of Materia, he would let them all know what elements he could absorb, as well as some, not all, of what he had learned with Enemy Skills… he was a ninja, the master of deceit after all.

"Well, I have my Buster Sword-"

"You mean zanbato, correct?" was Hinata's immediate retort.

"**She's not going to make this easy kid… I love this girl more every time I hear from her!"**

"Well, yes it is, but the name of the sword is the Buster Sword. Now for most people it can only be used in two basic directions, but I was trained to the point where I can use it without those restrictions wield it… well not _just_ like a normal sized sword, but close. The way I handle the weapon allows me to move it faster than would otherwise be possible or expected of a weapon this size. Rebound off your opponents blocks, spinning, and a lot of chakra to the torso and arms can go a long way."

This was all true, since he couldn't work on physical improvement while he was training with Cloud he had to substitute it with chakra induced strengthening. Since arriving home again he had already noticed an increase in his muscle mass, well hidden by the cloaks, as well as increased flexibility. He knew this quick improvement was thanks to the Refiner, though he wasn't about to go and tell them all that.

Quickly he went through a training exercise Cloud had taught him that had him fighting an invisible foe. He opened with a wide slash and rebounded, spinning around to rebound once more from a backhanded slice. Bringing it around and down in a frighteningly fast chop and back up again, only to come down on a second foe on the other side. He finished with a spin, turning three times in a whirlwind motion..

At the end he was applauded by the three bystanders, "Excellent job!" "Indeed!" and "Worst performance ever!!" you know who did this one.

"I must also give a confession to you Kurenai-sensei," Shino and Hinata were suddenly were aware of him, Hinata Feeling alarm and anger, Shino simply alarm and, ironically, a little relief, "I have been keeping a secret from you and the rest of the village, though our two teammates are aware. I am currently in possession of a few objects, chakra foci if you will. Materia!" and he pulled the green Contain orb from his sword. "With materia you can perform amazing attacks by simply pushingsome chakra through the orb, the materia shaping it." As he embraced his chakra he suddenly became aware of Hinata's Byakugan… she would be more willing to try and steal the materia if she saw HOW to use it… well, she would see eventually anyways channeling his chakra into the orb with a certain pattern he created a giant boulder out of the earth, nearly two yards thick and twelve feet high.

Kuenai just stared for a second, "You say all you need do is push chakra into the orb and it does the rest, molding the chakra for you? That's it? I must say, such a thing is disconcerting." This shocked the boy; he thought that being able to do this would make Kurenai happy, intrigued at the very least. "It's not that you being able to do this is bad, but the implications of having objects like this falling into the hands of our enemies… I cannot say I like it, but carry on…"

'_Great, now I'm disconcerted. I never thought of anything like that!"_

"**Win some, lose a lot more. That just seems to be your lot in life."**

Rolling his hidden eyes he placed the orb back in his sword and his sword into the ground. Next, though I do not have a lot of jutsu, I do have an excellent defense against the elements." There was a sudden Feeling of relief from both his teammates, "As you saw during our Genin Exam, I absorbed your fire jutsu. Well fire is only one of the four elements I can absorb like that. Fire, Earth, Air, and Lightning are all absorbed in some form." To prove his point he walked over and punched the giant rock he had so recently summoned into place, watching as it dissolved into a fine dust. "Hinata, if you would be so kind as to make a lightning shield."

After staring at him for a second she stood up, slowly making the hand seals and thrusting her hands out before her, where a thin wall of wild electricity flowed. Walking forward, his left arm ahead of him, he was glad to see the lightning diverted into his bracer. He could feel Kurenai-sensei's eye's on his back, and oddly enough it had nothing to do with the Oboegan. His bloodline _did_ let his feel her… jealousy, fear, and… was that lust or greed? He didn't know what would be better.

Well, whatever it was, as soon as Hinata dropped the jutsu and moved away from Naruto she launched a Katon jutsu at the boy.

To say Naruto was surprised was an understatement. He had been getting used to predicting what people were going to do based on what he could Feel from them, in particular when they would attack. But she had gone from a wanting feeling to attacking with no pause. Oddly enough something else occurred to Naruto, _'Well, since I know who's angry with who and what people are feeling I can help others with stuff like that!_' as flames whirled around him and were vacuumed into the gauntlet.

"**Congrats! You can become a shrink, though personally I think you need to talk to one."**

_Why's that?'_ he asked, a little miffed. The others just looked on in wonder as the fire was all sucked in.

"**You just stood there as your teacher attacked you with a high powered fire jutsu and started thinking about what else you could do with the Oboegan! When I said to think about what else you can do with it I meant later… when there was less chance to be attacked!"**

"Oh!" when everyone looked at him he just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Just thought of something else I should probably show you later.

"That was… an excellent display Naruto. Tell me, how do you absorb the elements like that? I know of only one technique, an Uchiha jutsu, that lets someone absorb one of the elements. Yet you absorbed three, and claim to be able to do the same with wind."

The boy just smiled and lifted up the bracer, moving his sleeve out of the way so she could see it, the six gems glinting in the sun, "This is my secret Kurenai-sensei. This bracer has given me the ability to absorb the elements… or rather it absorbs them." She was quiet for a long while, staring at him before motioning him to carry on.

"Now you all saw the amazing Slash-All-Shuriken. With it I can hit nearly any target that is presented to me using another type of materia, Command materia. I bring this up because the last bit that I want to show you is a second Command materia: enemy skills." He could Feel them once more, Hinata's eager greed, Shino immense curiosity, and Kurenai's calm fear and excitement. "As the name implies it allows me to learn the jutsu's of my enemies. While I COULD learn allied techniques its all a matter of if it is used ON me or not."

Kurenai sat up a little straighter at this, "So in other words its not if you see it its if some one were to-"

"-Attack me, Kurenai-sensei." No one ever became a jounin by being stupid, "For instance, I learned this really neat technique about a week ago… perhaps your familiar with it?" _Katon: Oomaka-kaji no jutsu!_

And once again, with no hand seals, launched a jutsu, one that burned and looked hotter than Kurenai's had, setting one of the nearby tree's ablaze. The woman in question just stood there, mouth ajar, shivering slightly. Her emotions were a train wreck: jealously, fear, awe, revulsion, curiosity, greed, self-doubt, and what Naruto had come to call a Wanting feeling, a mix of both lust, desire, and a touch of greed all wrapped into one. In fact this last emotion was shared by Kurenai and Hinata alike.

He didn't stop his attack there though, focusing on the feeling of water on his skin he now sent out a jet of water from his mouth, not only putting out the fire he had started, but filling the pond Hinata had emptied earlier. Lastly was the sensation of holding a frog on his skin. Soon they all heard the sound of a gentle, upbeat melody from the boy's bracer…

"HOLY SHIT! You killed Shino!"

"YOU BASTARD!"

"He's not DEAD! He's just a frog!" 'ribbit' and the little Shino frog ate one of the bugs that had managed to escaped the jutsu…

**--- for blood!- and HONOUR!---**

Walking up a thin staircase of stone the group of six soon halted, "This is it." Was the small voice of the summoner, "A few more steps and we will be in the Farplane. Once there you will be able to see the spirits of the dead. You will not be able to interact with them, however if she does show then we will know if she lives or not."

Walking forward once more, one hand clenched in front of her chest, Yuna led them up and soon they stood at a ledge overlooking the realm of the spirits, a flaming and steaming waterfall of life and death. Before her were summoned three men, Braska, Ject, and Auron… they left her to watch after them, soon summoning there own spirits.

Tifa had her father, Cloud his mother, between the two was a pink clad flower girl. Off to another side Red looked over at an old man. Walking apart from them all Vincent stood, thinking of Yuffie. She was his friend, his first friend he had in fifty years…

"Damn you, work!" he muttered to himself. Soon he brought forth images of those he knew to be dead, Hojo, Sephiroth, and Lucricia. He stared at each of them in turn, lingering on each of them. _'Well it is good to know that those two are truly dead and that she sleeps well.'_

He was pulled from his musings by the sight of one of the other specters, a man dressed in red and carrying a large black blade on his back. He tried to ignore him, however the man spoke.

"_Interesting people you think on. One man marked by madness, one man marked by murder, and a woman who is as pure as any I've seen."_

Looking into the man's eyes he saw they were as dead as any other in this place, "Be gone ghost, I have not the time to think upon the dead that I did not know. Besides, you are mistaken, both men were mad and both were murderers… they are even tied by the same blood. And the woman is far from innocent…"

"_What woman is? As I said is as I see them… I have seen other things here. As you all entered the spirits cried out, they recognized you all. There waiting for you, the others I mean… might I make a suggestion? Find this girl you are looking for and get away, back to your own world, as fast as possible… Things are changing here… spirits are moving in ways I've never seen… something BIG is going to happen."_

Vincent considered the man's words for a second, he had died before, so it would make sense if he knew things that others did not. Perhaps… "How would you like to join us?" he asked, his hand pulsing with the energy of Chaos…

_----boom---Boom---BOOM--- **BOOM---**_

It was dark, his eyes looked through the deep foliage, trying to find a hint of his pursuers, a scent or a sound… yes, there they were, he could hear them, speaking in a strange guttural tongue. He watched as the moved by, first a bun haired girl, looking the other way with a needle in her hand… she was one of the most dangerous, she had claws that would hunt him down, Then there was the Green Beast who could outrun him, and his clone who was nearly as fast as the first… but where was the last? Tora could be found by him in a second if they were this close… that wouldn't happen… not today.

Silently jumping from his perch he began to sneak his way through the woods… after today he would be free, never more to play the fool to that clown woman.

Then he heard the voice, "Lee you fool! You walked right past it. I can see it from here, Tenten, climb a tree so you can see it better. Lee, Guy-sensei, go around the sides to box it in, I'll head in from the front and send it your way."

No, the White Eyed One, he had seen him. Racing, he bolted as fast as he could, but his efforts where in vain. Soon he found himself in a small cave, easy capture once more, he was sure.

"Never mind, the stupid animal boxed itself in. I can take it from here… Yup, its wearing the necklace, one green orb, one blue… Such a gaudy thing, for a CAT!" kneeling down to pick him up Neji smirked.

He had to do something, his panic filled him and he felt a draining sensation. He felt Fire. He had to stop them, all of them! With a hiss a giant plume of fire erupted on Neji's face, as well as Tenten's, Lee's, and Guy's. Falling back they all started to yell, Guy about his vest having caught on fire, Tenten as he bun's became torch's, and Lee as his eyebrows lit up. Neji's was worse though, he had looked the creature in the face, seen its chakra move… and had his hair, bandages, and loose clothing set on fire all at once.

Grinning at his success, the exhausted cat ran into the day. No. he would stay in these woods now, for he was the king of the jungle. He. Was. TORA!

---Ooh, I know a certain Kitty-kitty that's sleeping with mommy tonight---

Once again Yuffie was walking through the village, bored… and alone! She could understand Naruto's responsibility to the village and his team, but still. The only time they had to themselves anymore, since returning to his world, was at night, and they weren't even _doing_ anything. They would go to eat and then curl up on the futon together, talking. It was a much simpler life than she had back home and it wasn't something she minded usually, but this was too much.

He on the other hand, spent hours on end training and getting used to his body and new jutsu. That was another sore point. She was able to train him in the arts of materia and all of her experiences, yet he could not return the favor all the way. Take the wall walking technique he was trying to teach her for example. He could tell her about it, how it could be useful. But didn't know much about how to do it other than to pool chakra at your feet… and he wasn't very good at it. She would live though…

So here she was, walking alone… by herself… and alone.

Walking out of the Yamanaka Flower fields she started heading south. He hadn't been down there yet so it should prove to be more interesting than going to the training fields again.

Ah, yes… the training grounds. It had been a sore spot for her four days prior. She and Naruto had gotten into a little… spat, over them. It was also why they had been training outside the village… _past_ the so called training grounds.

She had been going for a nice little walk to the north of the village when she realized she was in the training grounds. Once this was realized she started back towards the village proper, believing she would get in trouble for being there. On the way out though she came across two Shinobi having a spar. This was not the problem, the fact that it was with a large grouping of civilians and Shinobi watching on… that was the problem.

More to her shock was that three of the Shinobi watching were from other Hidden Villages. Now Yuffie may not have a good grasp on where all the Hitai-ate's were from, but she could tell that the hourglass, whirlpool, and twin mountains were not symbols of Konohagakure. It disgusted her.

That they would let people come and go freely in a place where men and woman practiced their most secret of arts. _'Its maddening! Who could be so stupid!?'_ but I digress.

"Today is a new day and there are no more stupid training grounds!"

After a mile of walking south she heard someone making a ruckus up ahead. Running up she found herself looking down at, _'ANOTHER training ground!'_

It was here that she saw him for the first time with no one around: Sasuke Uchiha. From a distance she watched him and noted that he moved with a certain… grace, of someone who trained hard and often. She couldn't help but compare him to Naruto.

'_Physically Naruto is strong, probably stronger than Sasuke. But the Uchiha is faster… much faster. From what I've heard he has a doejutsu like Naruto's as well. He can use his jutsu's with great ease, flowing them into his style perfectly. Sure, Naruto's got a lot going for him, but that's just the problem, he has too many individual skills that are underdeveloped and not fitted together yet… once they are though…'_

She paused her thoughts and watched him once more, kicking and fighting invisible foes like Naruto and she had been taught before breaking into a fire jutsu.

'_His doejutsu is great, but we don't know what it will evolve into yet. He has materia, but cannot use them on the fly yet, which is a must for his chosen field. He does have the shuriken/slash all combo down and pat, but that's only for an enemy who is farther off. With his sword and Kage bunshin he may be able cope with Sasuke's speed. With luck he could have the Rasengan down by this time two months from now… well _if_ he practices. He does seem to be specializing in techniques with no handseals… but it's the bracer… with that pracer Naruto's victory over Sasuke would be all but assured. Right now Naruto would probably be the worst match up for Sasuke… but I wonder…'_ her musings were cut short by another fire jutsu.

Breathing in deep while he made four quick seals the Uchiha let out a thin blast of fire, setting a nearby tree ablaze. He held the stream of fire for nearly a minute, searing different sections of the branches before blasting the trunk at full force. When he was don he looked up at his handy work with a grin on his face, hands on his knees, and taxed for breath.

To Yuffie it was a beautiful thing. The fire was so powerful, so wild, and yet he had complete control over it. None of the materia she had could grant such sublime control over an element like that, they were much more brutal and raw. He stood there, sweating and panting, when she saw the movement. It wasn't an enemy that the Uchiha would have been used to, in fact it was the blazing tree that he had just destroyed. Apparently blasting the trunk wasn't the best idea.

As the tree came down Sasuke never saw it, what with all the fire moving about and the crackling of the fire blocking out the splintering of the wood.

**---if it weren't for my horse, I never would have spent that year in collage---**

Sasuke was a dedicated man, far a man he did think himself to be. Whenever he decided something was worth his effort he put his all into it with as much heart and vigor as he could muster. In the academy he had decided it wasn't worth his while, that it was not worthy of him… then he was put in his place. He started to fall behind the others and the Hokage himself let Sasuke know that there would be no other way to become a Shinobi if he didn't stay in the academy. By the time he realized this he had his work cut out for him though and never quite made it back to number one. It was his second failure.

The Hyuga had shown him up there, it fed his fire. He now moved to become stronger, he would become chuunin first, he would become jounin first, and he would kill any Hyuga that got in his way. They were the only clan now and days that held a candle next to the Uchiha's and if anyone would prepare him for fighting his brother it would be the Hyuga. Besides, he owed them one for old scores that needed to be settled.

Thus it was not a rare sight to see the Uchiha running before dawn's first light and training in the most gruesome of Uchiha and Konoha training regimes. Variations of the tree walking and water walking exercises such as waterfall walking, coal running, waterfall meditation, and mixing any number of chakra exercises with physical workouts were fair game. He had also dedicated himself to learning Fire Manipulation, starting with leaf burning and then coal holding, which he was on now. After that was breathing in fire, then trying to manipulate small flames with hand signs, then without, and lastly was doing his techniques without hand seals. By that point he would need to go to the Fire Sages in order to progress farther into his training.

He was now testing to see what his training had done for him. He was proud of himself right now. Two months earlier he had tried the same routine and was only barely able to finish and his fire jutsu had gone for only ten seconds, whereas this time it lasted a good minute and he did the routine without stop and ended in good condition.

Turning his back he started to walk towards his home in the Uchiha district, he knew better than to train when out of chakra. As soon as his back was turned he heard someone yelling at him, followed by him being tackled and sent tumbling a dozen feet. As soon as he stopped moving he heard the crash and saw a gigantic plume of fire and embers.

Only a few times had his heart been racing as hard as it was now. Even for shinobi, accidents like that could kill. Never to kill his brother. _'Who grabbed me?'_ it was a females voice, so he assumed it was one of his pathetic stalkers: few, the brave, the incredibly stupid. _'Then again, I never sensed her presence…'_ he hoped it wasn't one, but was prepared to thank the girl with a date if it was. Looking over he saw it _was_ a girl that saved him, though not one he had ever seen in the village.

'_She's beautiful!'_ was the first thing going through his head, taking in not only her physical beauty she had, but the fact that she had muscle, he could feel her chakra, and the fact that she had been able to hide from him. Beyond that he could feel it: she was strong, stronger than him. He didn't know what it was he was feeling right now.

Looking back up at him she put on one of those pirate smiles, "Got'cha!" and for the first time in a long time Sasuke put on a real smile.

----do not, I repeat, do _not_ think about that for more than two minutes or _blood_ will start oozing out your ears---

It was another two weeks of missions before Naruto was on his way to the south gate, where he and his team would be doing some training with the Aburame. Yuffie had run off early to get a bite to eat with a new friend and he was running late.

As he neared the gate he passed a man who reeked of alcohol and was sweaty and dirty. Covering his mouth as he passed he heard the man speaking to himself, "Super, I'll just wait till tomorrow and then…" was all he heard and he was soon on his way.

'_We better get a better mission, and soon!' was all he thought… be careful what you wish for… you just might get it…__

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next is onto the wave folks, some twist, turns an alot of hate to spread around... you gotta love hate!


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